


Kids With No Choice

by MissCherryBomb



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Angst, Blood, Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, More characters and tags to come, My First Fanfic, Romance, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:49:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4529628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCherryBomb/pseuds/MissCherryBomb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reila is a young woman who was turned into a ghoul against her will. How will she find herself in a completely new situation?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was previously posted on tumblr but I decided to post it here as well. This is my first fic so please be understanding :] All comments are welcome, you can contact me either through my Tokyo Ghoul blog (link above) or my personal blog here. Peace out!

A young woman woke up in a hospital bed. She slowly opened her eyes and faintly asked a nurse who was in the room:

“ Where am I?”

“Oh, you’ve finally woken up Rei. You’re at Kanou hospital. You had… hmm… an accident and doctor Kanou saved your life. Don’t you remember?” the nurse answered.

Accident? Doctor Kanou? Hospital? Yes, she remembered that she worked there, she even knew that nurse, what’s her name…  Keiko? She wasn’t sure, her brain was a complete mess. She couldn’t remind herself of any accident. The last thing she remembered was the conversation between her and Kanou. She threatened him saying that she would reveal all details about the operation of a boy who received organs from a girl without her family’s permission. Reila had found out that this girl was a ghoul and she was pretty sure that the transplantation of ghoul’s organs into the human body would cause some dangerous consequences. Reila knew about everything because she assisted this operation as a surgeon nurse. She tried to make the doctor stop. Then she tried to make him confess. And then… what did he do to her?

“Sorry Keiko, I don’t remember anything.”

“Oh, maybe it’s better that you don’t remember.”

“No, Keiko, please tell me! Tell me everything you know about my accident!”

“I don’t know any details. Doctor Kanou said that you had been mugged nearby hospital. The thief had taken your bag and seriously wounded you into the stomach. Luckily, the doctor found you. He operated on you because you had lost a lot of blood. “

“Can I talk to him?”

“No, he left for a business trip a few hours ago. I don’t know when he will be back. Rei, you should eat something. Here’s some soup.” Keiko handed her a spoon and passed her the bowl.

“Thanks.” Reila tasted a little bit of soup but immediately gagged.

“Whoa, is something wrong? Does it taste bad?”

“I think I’m not ready to eat yet.”

“That’s bad. You should eat to recover.”

“I know, I know… just give me some time.”

But in her head she already knew that she would never recover from it.

* * *

 

A few days later Reila left the hospital. She hadn’t had an opportunity to talk to the doctor because he was still out but she had managed to find in hospital files the address of the boy who had received ghoul’s organs. His name was Kaneki Ken. She felt that she has to visit him. She has to make sure he was doing alright. Did he know that he was a ghoul know? More importantly, she had to say that she was terribly sorry that she couldn’t do anything to save him. For the next few days she still ate nothing. All the food tasted as if it was rotten or uneatable and made her vomit within seconds. This made her think that the doctor had conducted the same operation on her. She barely believed that. It was not possible that such an attractive young woman and talented surgeon nurse like her could be a ghoul now. And only because she wanted to do a good thing: tell ghoul investigators about the terrible thing that the doctor had done. She thought about all these stuff as she was heading to Kaneki Ken’s apartment.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. She knocked on his door for almost 15 minutes and finally decided to walk away. Maybe she would meet him the next day. She started to feel sick. Before going out she had forced herself to eat some ramen and now she felt the results of this. Felling down, she left the building and went out on a street. It was warm evening but it had started raining. She pulled the hood of her coat on her red hair and started walking to her apartment. She could smell all humans who were passing her by.  All of them smelt wonderful like a tasty meals prepared by her mother. Mother… she was far away in a small town nearby Tokyo. And Reila was completely all alone here in the 20th ward.

Suddenly she swerved toward quiet alley and threw up. She didn’t feel well enough to go further so she just squatted there. It was raining more heavily than before.

_What a nightmare…_  she thought and started crying.

“Hmmm, one eye, that’s interesting” she heard suddenly. She raised her head and saw a black-haired young man with a lot of piercings and an umbrella.

“Do you need some help?” he added and reached his hand out to her.


	2. Chapter 2

“No, I’m fine, thanks.” said Reila and soon after she puked again.

“Yea, I see.” the man said ironically.  “Have you eaten something?” he added and squatted in front of her.

“Yea, I’ve eaten some ramen. It was past the expiration date, I guess.”

“Ramen it’s not what your body needs anymore. I mean, have you eaten any ghoul food? Because that’s what you need right now.”

“Why do you say such things? I’m a human!” she cried wiping her tears.

“No, you’re not. I can see it and I can smell it. By the way you smell really delicious.” he cracked a smile. Reila gave him a suspicious look. “Just kidding!” he assured her while he stood up. “So do you want my help or do you want to die here like a stray animal?”

Reila glanced at him. He looked quite unusual but she liked his style.Under any other circumstances she would have had a crush on him. She couldn’t believe that such a nice guy is a ghoul. She wasn’t sure but he surely was a ghoul. How else would he know so much about them? Unless he was a ghoul investigator, that could explain his knowledge about ghouls. All in all, she completely didn’t know this guy, why she should trust him? She didn’t make the decision about what to do because she completely lost her consciousness.

* * *

 

Reila woke up in the backseat of someone’s car.  She spotted the silhouettes of the two men sitting in the front.  She was scared to make a move or even breath. So she just stayed quiet and pretended that she was still unconscious. Finally, the car stopped, the men got out, one of them helped her out of the car and they entered a building. Then she felt like her body being laid on a soft mattress.

“Thanks Yomo.” she heard the voice of a guy who she had met in an alley.

“You’re welcome.” now she could hear a cold voice of the man named Yomo and soon after the sound of a door closing behind him. A few minutes passed and nothing had happened so she decided to open her eyes. She quickly took a look around the room she was in. It was small, dim-lit room. She lay on the mattress which was situated directly on a floor. In front of her there was a desk, currently occupied by this strange guy. She still didn’t know his name, such a shame. He bent over the desk and apparently he was drawing something. She wanted to draw his attention as gently as possible so she stretched her arms and mumbled quietly.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” the man turned towards her side.

“Mmmmm…” she hummed because she didn’t have any strength to say more.

The guy chuckled, stood up, grabbed some clothes from a dresser and handed them to Reila.

“Here, you should change clothes. Yours are completely wet.” the girl was still too weak to stand up so she just lay there. “Do I have to help you with this?” the man asked.

“Noooo, no, no! I’ll do it by myself!” suddenly she exclaimed and blushed.

“Ok, I’m going to prepare you a meal.” he stated and left. Reila was in a room all alone now. She checked the clothes which she had received. There was black loose T-shirt and grey harem pants.  _Still better than nothing._ \- she thought and changed her clothes. After a few minutes she heard knocking at the door.

“Come in!” she shouted. It was her mysterious host. He carried a tray with a small package and a cup of coffee on it. Reila sat down on the mattress, the guy came to her, put the tray on a floor and sat beside her.

“Here, have a treat.” He handed her the package.

“What’s that?” she started opening it. “Is it what I’m thinking?”

“It depends what you’re thinking.” He smiled.

Reila opened the package and made sure that it was exactly what she had been thinking – a piece of human flesh. It smelt delicious but still she couldn’t eat it.

“I can’t.” she covered her mouth with a hand.

“You have to. Listen, I don’t know how you became a ghoul but you are one of us now and you have to eat like a ghoul. You already know how terrible you feel after human food.” He was completely right and she knew it. That’s why she burst into tears. She felt totally alone and misunderstood. How he couldn’t understand that she had been a human all her life until this awful operation and that she wanted to stay this way.

“Oh, ok. Take your time with the food and try this.” He handed her a cup of coffee. Reila looked at him with a surprise but she grabbed the cup and took a sip. It tasted so good!

“Wow, that’s great! Thank you.” Her eyes widened and began drinking coffee eagerly.

“You’re welcome.” The young man smiled. “I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself. I’m Uta.”

“That’s right. And I’m Reila. But most people call me Rei.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

“Actually where am I?”

“In my apartment. My friend Yomo helped me to bring you here.”

“Oh, is your friend… is he a ghoul as well?”

“Yup, he is.” Uta nodded.

“Why do you even help me?”

“We ghouls should have to stick together.”

“But I’m not a ghoul!” Reila cried. But after a while she added: “I mean, I didn’t used to be a one. Now I don’t know who I am anymore. I was just an ordinary surgeon nurse right out of medical school…” she started crying.

“Shh.” Uta whispered and stroked her hair gently. She immediately hugged him, wiping tears on his shoulder. At first, he was quite surprised but then he took her into his arms. When she settled down after a few minutes she told him everything about the hospital and doctor Kanou while drinking her coffee. After that she asked him if he knows Kaneki Ken. To all her relief he confirmed that he did. “He works at Anteiku now. I’m making a mask for him.”

“Anteiku? Where’s that? And what mask???” Reila was curious about so many things. After having some coffee she was feeling a little bit better.

“Anteiku is a café in 20th ward. It’s a ghoul-friendly café I’d say.” Uta smirked. “Anyway, the mask is essential for every ghoul so that doves cannot recognize our faces. And by doves I mean ghoul investigators.”

“I see.” Reila reflected for a while “Creating masks is your work?” she asked.

“Not only a work, I just love to do it.”

“That’s nice. I amaze people who have a passion. I, for example, love seeing how people cut open.” She chuckled. Uta smiled but it was more like a forced smile. “Sorry, I have really poor sense of humor. She explained herself. “Better change the subject. This tattoo on your neck… Are these Greek letters?”

“Yup. But it’s a Latin quote. It says: nec possum tecum vivere, nec sine te, which means…”

“Oh, wait, I know a little bit Latin. I used to learn it at medical school. I can live neither with you, nor without you, isn’t it?”

“Exactly. I think it perfectly describes relations between humans and ghouls.”

“Surely it does.” Rei yawned.

“You should go to sleep Reila. You are completely exhausted.”

“Yea.” She lied down. Uta stood up and was about to leave when she added: “Could you stay with me?”

Uta hesitated but finally said: “Yea, why not.” He drew back and sat on the mattress once again. Reila closed her eyes and soon fell into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost noon when Reila woke up. She was all alone. Next to the mattress stood the tray with a piece of flesh, fresh coffee and a note on which was written:

_Hello sunshine! I’m working at my shop, have a treat and take a shower if you want. – Uta._

She blushed while reading the note and started drinking coffee. Why he was so nice to her? After a few sips she looked at the meat. Her stomach was rumbling. She slowly reached a hand for food, lifted it to her mouth and took a bite with disgust. Finally she could eat something what didn’t make her feel sick! However, the fact that it was human flesh made her feel bad mentally. She thought that she would never be able to deal with the fact that she’s someone different now. But Uta had told her that she was a ghoul, wasn’t it true? It was terrible but it was completely true. She started eating more eagerly. In her mind she was so relieved that she’s alone now. She didn’t want that someone to see her in such a condition. When she finished her meal, she went to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and looked in the mirror. It was a huge shock. The face which she saw wasn’t her. At least it was not the face that she was used to seeing. Her mouth and chin were all covered with blood. Her right eye differed from the left one. It was not green like it should be, but it had all black sclera with red pupil. The eye of a ghoul. The same eyes that Uta had. She started wondering why his eyes were always like that. She knew a little bit of ghouls’ physiology because of working with Kanou and she knew that kakugan is activated only under certain circumstances. She remembered also that it’s influenced by RC Cells. Did this mean that Uta has high level of these cells? If it was true, he may be highly dangerous. She was too afraid to ask him about it.

Reila was totally mad at herself. Why had she even thought that she can beat someone so powerful like Kanou? She could still assist him with these operations silently. On the other hand, she could not stand that he had made a ghoul from innocent person. That boy had no choice. Like she right now.

Reila took off her clothes and stepped into the shower. She let the water wash off all her stress and worries. When she finished, she checked her clothes. They were dry already so she put them on. Then she went out on corridor to explore the rest of Uta’s apartment.

* * *

 

Reila noticed half-curtained door through which she saw a light so she decided to go in that direction. When she passed it, she turned out to be in Uta’s studio because everywhere she could see mannequins wearing extraordinary masks. Apparently, he worked and lived in the same place. She didn’t see him around so she started to admire his works. She always fancied such weird things so this place was a real heaven for her. She contemplated a mask with an excessively pointed nose and ears when suddenly the mask said:

“Yo.” Reila jumped and shrieked with horror. “Calm down, it’s only me.” Uta took off the mask. She had been so preoccupied that she didn’t see that it wasn’t the body of a mannequin.

“You scared the hell out of me!” she shouted at him.

“Sorry, I didn’t know that you are so chicken –hearted.” he chuckled.

“I’m not! I’m just… I have never been scared of the mask before!” she showed her irritation.

“Right.” he smirked. “Have you eaten a breakfast that I made you?”

“Yea…” she lowered her voice, “I feel better now.”

“That’s good. I’m finishing the mask for Kaneki. I’ll go to Anteiku and deliver it to him in a few days. Would you like to come with  me there? I know that you want to talk to him.”

“Oh, that would be great!” Reila clapped her hands.

“Ok, just give me your number and I’ll call you when I’m ready.” Reila wrote down her number on a piece of paper Uta gave to her. Then there was an awkward moment of silence. They just stared at each other. Finally Reila said:

“Ok, I should get going to my place.” and she headed toward exit.

“You can stay if you want to.” Uta said quietly. She stopped and turned towards him. “I mean, you can come whenever you want.”

“Alright. See ya.” she answered as she left the shop. Uta stared at the closed door for a while.

* * *

 

After returning to her apartment, Reila pulled on pajamas and  fell asleep because she was still exhausted by recent events. She was woken up by the ringtone of her telephone later in the evening.

“Hello?” she answered it with a sleepy voice.

“Hello sunshine. I’ve just finished a project and I thought that maybe I can visit you… have I woken you?” she heard Uta’s voice.

“Yea, I was just taking a nap but nevermind. Have you finished Kaneki’s mask? Do you want to go to Anteiku?” she panicked because she wasn’t ready for it yet.

“No, I just said that I can visit you if you want. I can bring some coffee. And maybe some snacks if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, I don’t think clearly when I’m sleepy, sorry. Yea, that would be great.” then she gave him address and they hung up. She turned on tv to kill the time. Not an hour has passed, when she heard knocking on the door. She got up to open it. It was of course Uta.

“Yo.” he was wearing sunglasses and carrying a paper bag and two coffees with him.

“Come in.” she welcomed him. Inside he took off glasses and shoes and they sat on a couch.

“I brought coffee and snacks as I promised.” he handed her a cup and opened a bag.

“What’s that? “ Reila glanced into the bag. “EYEBALLS?” she shrieked with a disgust.

“What? I liked them.” Uta took out one of them and started licking it. “Do you want some?”

“Thanks, I just settle with a coffee.”

“As you wish. I brought you some meat if you were hungry. “ he took out a small package and handed it to her.

“Oh thanks. I’ll save it for later. But you didn’t have to bring me food.”

“So that you could mooch around the city being hungry and maybe kill someone? I think bringing you food is a better option.”Reila sent him an offended look. “Listen, I don’t have to help you so maybe appreciate this a little bit more, ok?”

“Yea, you don’t have to do that, so why do you do it anyway? I don’t deserve for such kindness. And I do appreciate this, I just feel that I own you a big favor because of that. And I hate being in debt.”

Uta widened his eyes. Had he finally managed to awake some emotions in her, like anger?

“I help you because if you was alone, sooner or later Doves would catch you and they’d be more careful and patrol more and all ghouls would be screwed and we don’t need that, so yeah, that’s why I’m helping you. Did you think it’s all about you?”

“Oh, sorry I didn’t think about that.” Reila reflected.

“Yea, neither you think when you recorded confessions of the Doctor. He saw through you, he knew that you had planned something. A guy who experiments with ghouls and humans cannot be dumb…”

“Shut up!” Reila shouted. “I’ve suffered enough already. And I’ll be suffering for the rest of my life.”

“Oh, do you think being a ghoul is a punishment? I’d say it’s better than death. In a fact it’s a chance for a new life.”

“You don’t know how to be a human so don’t talk about such things! And now just leave! You’re just pissing me off!”

“Ok, don’t get angry so much, your eye is already red.” Reila covered her eye. Uta took her arm and removed it. “And it’s beautiful.” he whispered. “Just think about it.” and then he left.


	4. Chapter 4

Two days passed and Reila spent them all alone in her apartment. She was just sleeping and watching tv. No one called her and she was alright with that. She wasn’t in a mood to talk with anyone. However, she regretted quarreling with Uta. He was the only person who cared about her since the operation after all.

On the third day, her telephone rang. She hoped that it was Uta but she saw the unknown number.

“Yes?” she answered the phone.

“Hello, I’m Doctor Kanou’s secretary from Kanou Hospital. Am I speaking with Miss Reila Suzuki?”

“This is her.” Rei spoke back.

“Good. I’m calling you to let you know that unfortunately you will not work at the hospital anymore.”

“What? I don’t understand, I was just on convalescent leave…”

“This firing has nothing to do with your health condition Miss. We have to do some downsizings.”

“I see…”

“I’m so sorry Miss. Goodbye.”

“Bye.” Reila hung up and threw her phone in front of her. She knew that it wasn’t just an ordinary downsizing. Kanou didn’t want to have anything to do with her. What was she supposed to do now? She had just lost her job and no one cared about her. Without hesitation she went to the kitchen and took out a sharp knife. Then she started cutting her wrists. In that case, she could just die. She didn’t care about anything. She just watched as blood was flowing from her veins. After a few seconds her cuts healed just like that. There was no sign of them.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” she screamed and she did some more cuts. But the same thing happened. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Reila collapsed on thefloor screaming. So now I couldn’t even kill myself?  _Right, ghouls can recover very fast._ \- she thought while lying on a floor and crying.

Reila couldn’t even count how long she was lying there before she heard knocking on her door. She didn’t want to open it. She didn’t want to see anybody. However, she was curious who it could be. It was someone persistent because the knocking didn’t stop so she finally stood up and opened the door. It was Uta.

“Yo.” he greeted her.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she snarled.

“Oh, I can see that you’re in marvelous mood today” he said snappishly. “I finished Kaneki’s mask and I’m going to Anteiku to give it to him and I thought that you may want to come as well.” he added.

“Today is not a good day.” she answered.

“You’re still mad at me, I see. I just want to say that I was completely honest with you last time and I won’t apologize for it.”

“Geez, it’s not always all about you, y’know.” she said ironically. “Come in, I can see that you’re not going to leave me alone.” she let him into the apartment. Uta noticed the pools of blood on the floor.

“Reila, what happened here?” he asked as his eyes widened.

“Oh, nothing, that’s my blood. It turned out that I completely can’t decide about my life right now. I can’t even kill myself because I regenerate too fast.” she answered and laughed madly.

“Killing yourself  is never a good option.” Uta put his hands on Reila’s shoulders and shook her.  “What made you try to do such a thing?”

“Let’s see, I’m a fucking monster, I have no friends and I lost job today. Is that enough?”

“No offence Reila, but you’re talking bullshit. You have me.” He looked into her eyes. They exchanged glances. “And you can work at Anteiku now. I’m sure the manager won’t mind it.”

“Me working at café? Sorry, I can’t see it.” she mocked.

“You don’t know it until you try. And you always wanted to meet Kaneki and now you have an opportunity. Just stop whining and go to change your clothes.”

A few seconds passed until Reila spoke back:

“I guess I don’t have anything better to do.” she sighed. “Wait here, I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” Then she went to her bedroom. She dressed up in a dress with a floral print, light blue denim jacket and black overknee socks. She put on some subtle make-up and went back to the living room.

“I’m ready.” she said.

“You look stunning.” Uta contemplated her.

“Don’t compliment me! I’m only going because I want to meet Kaneki finally.”

“You’re even more beautiful when you get angry.” he smirked.

“Can we just go now?” she ignored that comment, took her bag and headed towards door.

* * *

 

It was an early evening when they arrived at Anteiku. It was already closed but Uta despite that fact pushed open the door. When they entered the café, they spotted two teenagers: a girl with the short purple hair and black-haired boy with an eye patch on his left eye. The girl held the boy’s shirt up so that his chest was completely bared. It was quite an awkward position so both of them were totally shocked when they saw Uta and Reila at the door.

“Uta-san? What are you doing here?” the girl asked.

“It’s not what it looks like” the boy tried to explain.

Reila felt as abashed as they were. Only Uta didn’t seem to be mystified and he said:

“I don’t care what the two of you are doing. I just finished the mask for Kaneki and I wanted to see how it looks on him so I came here. Oh, and this young lady wants to talk with you Kaneki-kun.” he pointed at Reila.

“Who is she anyway?” the purple-haired girl asked jealously.

“My name is Reila Suzuki.” Rei bowed.

“She’s one-eyed like Kaneki.” Uta added. Reila looked at him, frightened. “Don’t you worry, there are only ghouls here.”

“Oh. So you too…”

“Touka Kirishima.” the girl introduced herself. “And this jellyfish is Kaneki Ken.”

“Hey! I’m not…” Kaneki started talking.

“Yea, yea.” Touka cut in. “What do you want to talk to him about?”

“Mask first!” yelled Uta.

“Douchebag.” Touka mumbled.

Uta ignored her and helped Kaneki to put the mask on. “So what do you think?” the mask maker asked.

“It’s good but…  the eye patch… shouldn’t be on the other side?”

“Nope. I wanted to expose this eye.”

“Oh… I guess it would fit that way.” stated Kaneki.

“Wow, this is so cool. It makes me want to have a mask as well.” Reila got excited.

“Ok, you’re my next customer.” Uta chuckled.

“So, Reila-san, what do you want to talk to me about?” Kaneki asked while taking off his mask. “Touka, could you make us some coffee?”

“Tsch.” Touka hissed.

“Please?” Kaneki smiled at her.

“Ok, ok. Do you also want a coffee Uta-san?”

“Nope, I have some eyeballs.” he replied.

“Yikes! Haven’t I told you it’s disgusting?” Reila cringed and turned to Kaneki: “Please call me Rei. I’m only a few years older than you.”

“Ok. So what’s up Rei?”

“I’d like to apologize you Kaneki-kun!” she bowed.

“I guess, I don’t understand why you’re apologizing to me.” Kaneki said with confusion. So Reila explained everything; about her work at the hospital and how she became a ghoul.

“Rei, it’s not your fault. You don’t have to apologize me. In fact I admire that you tried to find evidence that Kanou was responsible for this. But maybe it’s better that you didn’t manage to do that, or we would be all in trouble now. My first days as a ghoul were terrible but now I’m doing better and I believe that you will do better too.” he smiled to her while sipping his coffee.

“What is the meeting here so late?” suddenly they heard. Reila turned around and saw an old man.

“Yoshimura-san!” Kaneki and Touka shouted.

“Who is this young lady?” Yoshimura asked.

“I’m Reila Suzuki sir! Uta brought me here”

“She’s like me.” Kaneki added.

“I see.” the man smiled.

“Are you in charge of this place?” Rei questioned.

“Yes, I’m Yoshimura, the manager of Anteiku.”

“Oh, can I work here? I just lost my previous job.”

“I don’t see any contradictions. Anteiku is always opened for ghouls in need. You can even start tomorrow.”

“Thank you sir!” she exclaimed. Soon after they said goodbye and Reila and Uta left Anteiku. It was dark outside already. “I don’t feel like going home.” Rei said.

“Don’t you start a new job tomorrow? It’ll better if you get some sleep.”

“I’m so excited, I won’t be able to fall asleep!”

“Right. Where do you want to go then?” he asked calmly.

“I thought we could go to your studio to design a mask for me.” she said shyly.

“Soooo, aren’t you mad at me anymore?”

“I never was. I couldn’t be mad at you. I was just… confused.” she said quietly.

“I see… Let’s go then.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Any suggestions about the mask?” Uta asked while measuring Reila’s head.

“Hmm… I don’t know. What are your ideas?” she replied with a question.

“I thought about something connected with your previous job.”

“Like a surgeon mask? Seems cool. But wouldn’t it be too small? I think I’ll feel more comfortable in a full face mask.”

“Ok, as you wish. What’s your favorite animal then?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Just answer it please. I need to know you better to make you a good mask.”

“A cat I suppose. We used to have three cats at my family house. I mean, we still have them. I just don’t visit them anymore.”

“I see. Do you have a big family?”

“No, just my parents and I. I left them when I was 18 to study in Tokyo. And I stayed here. We just talk on the phone sometimes. And what was your past like if I may ask? I barely know anything about you.”

“Oh, I was an average ghoul kid.”Uta smirked.

“Which means? Sorry I don’t know what it’s like to be a ghoul kid.”

“Let’s say I was more adventurous. Ok, I’m finished measuring. Geez, you’re so tense, try to relax.” Uta started rubbing her neck and shoulders gently. She was even more tense because of that but said nothing. It was kinda nice.

_Suddenly she felt like he started biting her neck softly and sucking it leaving red marks. But not for long. All of the bites regenerated quickly. Bored by these fast regeneration abilities, Uta focused on petting her breasts and stomach. Reila shivered. She felt really confused but somehow she didn’t want to stop this. Unexpectedly, he turned around the stool on which she was sitting so that they were face to face. He lifted her and carried to a nearby desk. After placing her on a desktop, he started to kiss and lick her neck. He unzipped his pants with one hand while the other one he slipped under her dress to take off her underpants. She let him to do that and instinctively spread her legs a little bit more, ready for what was about to happen and she heard as he whispered her name:_

“Reila… Rei…”

“Mmmhm.” She purred while she opened her eyes.

“You dozed off.” Uta explained. As she became conscious again she realized that she was still sitting on the stool and Uta was standing behind her.  _Phew, so it was only a dream._  - she thought. She was relieved but also regretted it at the same time. It made her think how it would be like to be so close with him.

“So-sorry.” She muttered. “I’d better get going.”

“It’s very late, you can sleep there. I’m going to work on your mask design so you can lay in my room.”

She was so ashamed to stay at Uta’s apartment after her dream but he was right, it was late and she was too tired to go back to her place.

“Ok. Goodnight Uta.”

“Goodnight.”

She walked away to the room quickly so that he couldn’t see her flush.

* * *

 

She woke up early in the morning. Uta also was in the room but he was sleeping in a chair, his arms and head resting on a desktop. She got up quietly determined to leave as soon as possible but she stopped to glance at him. She noticed some mask’s sketches lying beside him. He must have been working on them til morning. She checked them out, they were pretty good. Then she looked at him. He looked so innocent when he was sleeping. She didn’t think much and leaned towards to give him a kiss on his forehead, then she left.

* * *

 

When Reila arrived at Anteiku, it was already open.

“Oh, no, I’m late.” She muttered to herself while she entered her new workplace. There was only one young woman with  long black hair whom Reila didn’t know. “Hello!” Rei greeted her.

“Welcome.” The woman smiled to her.

“Ummm, I’m a new employee here, Reila Suzuki.” She introduced herself.

“Oh, the manager mentioned that you’d come. I’m Kaya Irimi.  Nice to meet you.” Suddenly, a man with short brown hair and a bulbous nose, appeared. Reila didn’t know him either. “Koma, this is Reila, she will be working with us since now. I’ll show her the back of the store and give her an uniform, stay here.”

“Okie dokie.” The guy replied.

“Where are Kaneki and Touka?” Reila asked Kaya as they entered the changing room.

“Oh, they will be here later, they are part-time waiters. Koma and I are full time ones. Are you supposed to work full time as well?

“Yeah, I don’t have any other job right now.” Rei sighed.

“Oh, I’m sure you’re gonna love it. Most customers are ghouls but humans visit us as well. Ok, I’ll leave you alone now, change into the clothes and I’ll see you downstairs.” Kaya left.

 _Maybe it won’t be so bad…_  Rei thought while dressing up in the uniform.

Reila spent all day on learning how to make hot beverages and service the customers. Irimi and Koma were very understanding teachers. Later on, Yoshimura arrived and praised her for her good work despite the fact that she spilt a lot of milk and broke at least three cups.

When Touka and Kaneki started their work she was free to go. But before that Kaneki had proposed:

“Touka teaches me how to fight, maybe you’d want to join us?”

“Hmm, why not? I just go to my place to get some more comfortable clothes.” She spoke back.

“Don’t be rushed, we begin after we finish work. Come here when we’re closing the café.”

* * *

 

Reila was preparing to go out on for training with Touka and Kaneki when her telephone rang.

“Hello sunshine.”

“Oh, hi Uta.” She felt embarrassed while speaking to him. She still remembered her last dream.

“I’m just calling to ask you how was your first day at work was.”

“Umm, fine I guess. I wasted  a lot of milk and dishes but everybody was nice. I’m waiting until Touka and Kaneki close the café and then I’ll go on a training with them.”

“What training?” Uta seemed to be interested.

“They’re going to teach me how to fight.”

“Oh, that’s good. So while you’re busy I’ll keep with making masks.” he sounded to be disappointed. “Bye then.”

“Bye.”

Reila didn’t know what to think about Uta so she finished putting on a sweatsuit, grabbed her bag and left apartment.

* * *

 

“What is this place?” Rei asked when they were marching through the underground corridors.

“Oh, it’s an underground built by ghouls to avoid humans. There’s a lot of space to exercise here.” Speaking of that Touka hit Kaneki in the stomach.

“Whaaa…” he didn’t manage to avoid her attack.

“Focus you jellyfish!” she shouted at him.

“Why do you always have to be like this?”

 _Because she likes you, she likes you a lot. And she doesn’t want to show it._  Thought Reila but she saved this comment for herself. She was a good observer and she was able to see it since the first time she met them.

“Firstly, I’ll show how to dodge some attacks. Kaneki will you assist me?” Touka stated.

“Do I have any choice?” the boy mumbled.

“What did you say?” Touka asked belligerently.

“Nothing.” Kaneki answered rapidly.

Training with these two brightened Reila. Kaneki really inspired her. He was a proof that both worlds, human and ghoul, could be combined. He hadn’t stopped in adjusting to the new situation which unexpectedly stayed him. Even when Touka hit him and he couldn’t punch her back ( _Was he really so weak, or he did he not want to hurt her?_ Reila wondered.) She made up her mind to pursue the balance between her human and ghoul side as well.


	6. Chapter 6

The following days Reila spent on working and training with Touka and Kaneki. Sometimes Uta popped in the café just before closing to drink some coffee and see her home. One night when they were walking through 20th ward, Reila asked:

“How long are you gonna to walk me to my apartment?”

“As long as you are not able to fight with Doves by on your own.”

“Really? I think it’s unnecessary, I’m not as bad at fighting as I used to be.”

“Really?” he smirked and showed her into an empty alley so that nobody could see them. “Hit me then!” he ordered.

“Pardon me? Why am I supposed to do that?”

“I want to check your skills. Imagine I’m someone who attacked you and defend yourself.”

“Uta, stop that. There’s no need…” she didn’t finish her sentence because he cut her legs with a one kick and Reila fell on the ground. She was lying on her back and didn’t have a chance to stand up because he quickly sat on her, pressing her arms into the ground.

“Get off me!” she exclaimed.

“See? I managed to defeat you even without using kagune. Have you ever used yours?”

“No, there was no such need,” she hissed. “Now get off me, it’s not funny!”

“Oh, doves and any other ghoul wouldn’t be as understanding as I am,” he said.

“Other ghoul? Why are you saying that, why would I fight with a gho…” she didn’t finish because Uta bit her left shoulder. Reila shrieked from a pain. Also, she felt like something pierced her skin at the bottom of her back. She turned her head on the right and she saw how something in the shape of tail was trying to emerge from her back. She didn’t know why suddenly she got so much power, but she managed to push Uta away to nearby wall. He sat across it, admiring her kagune.

“So, you’re bikaku. Nice.” he said as Reila looked back at her kagune. It was a long, deep grey tail. “Are you ok?” he asked.

“Yea, I suppose. How about you?” she asked while stepping towards him.

“Things like throwing me at wall don’t have an influence on me,” he smirked.

Reila kneeled in front of him and started coughing, “Oh, I feel worse than I thought.”

“Geez, I bit you too deep,” he looked at her wound. “It’s gonna heal but not so fast. Here, have some bite,” he exposed his shoulder, “you need to eat and you’ll feel better.”

“What? I’m not going to eat you, you dumbass,” she said collapsing next to him.

“You’re not gonna eat me, just bite me. That’s the difference. I regenerate as well.”

She looked at him suspiciously. She didn’t feel well, that was for sure. The wound and using kagune for the first time made her very weak.

“Ok,” she stated while sitting up. Then she put her teeth into his shoulder and started sucking some blood.

“All right, that’s enough,” he said but it was hard for her to stop this, so he just simply grabbed her and pushed her away.

“I’m, I’m sorry,” she whispered and burst into tears.

“Shh,” he calmed her down while hugging her and stroking her hair, “everything will be ok now,” he assured her. And she could even believe that while they were sitting in a tight embrace.

* * *

 

The next evening Uta invited Reila to visit his friend’s bar in 14thward.

“Helter skelter,” Rei read the placard near the door. “Is it closed?” she asked noticing a sign on a door.

“Not for us,” Uta grinned and pushed open the door. Nearby the bar sat a woman with long ginger hair, dressed in a long black dress. Noticing them, she ran towards them:

“U-chan!” she exclaimed while throwing her arms around him. “And you must be Reila,” she assumed and hugged her as well.

“Yea,” grunted Rei.

“I’m Itori. I heard about you a lot from U-chan,” the woman said while letting Rei go.

“Oh really?” she asked in disbelief and sent Uta a complaining look. He only shrugged his shoulders.

“Yea. Come on, I’ll make you some drinks,” Itori approached the bar, “unless you’re under age Rei-chan,” she chuckled.

“No, no, I’m 22!” Rei blushed.

“Oh, you’re looking so much younger!” she stated while pouring alcohol into glasses. “U-chan, look what I have here!” Itori pulled a mask from under the bar counter.

“Oh, it’s one of my prototypes,” Uta cheered up.

“Yea, it’s hilarious! How do I look like?” Itori asked after putting the mask on her face.

“Great,” Uta complimented her.

Then they heard the door’s squeak as Renji and Kaneki entered the shop.

“I’m an old lady!” shouted Itori and threw herself towards Kaneki.

“Whaaa-!” the boy shrieked as he collapsed on a floor.

“Haha, I love this mask! Also who’s that boy?”

“Itori, calm down,” said Renji.

“Sorry Ren-chan. You don’t have to be so serious all the time, you know?”

“Poor Kaneki-kun,” said Rei and helped the boy to stand up.

“Kaneki- kun?” Itori took off her mask. “Oh, so this is famous eye patch-kun from Anteiku! There are a lot of one-eyed ghouls appearing recently!”

“What do you mean Itori? I thought Kaneki and I are the only ones,” Reila astonished.

“No, you two are the only ones created by Doctor Kanou after Rize’s death. But there is a legend that there had been an one-eyed ghoul long before you.”

“Is that so?” Kaneki got interested. “How it is possible?”

“Oh, it’s simple. What do you think happens when a human and a ghoul get together?”

Reila blushed but Kaneki answered:

“Um, a child would be born?”

“The chances of such a pregnancy are very low. Because if the mother is a human then the child won’t get  a food which they need so they would die in a womb. And if a mother is a ghoul then her body can mistake a baby for a food and absorb it,” Itori explained.

“That’s awful!” Rei jumped in.

“Yea, but it is said that there is a person who managed to be born as a half-human and half-ghoul. We know little about this guy. We don’t even know if it is a woman or a man. However, we know that the kagune of this guy can be turned on one eye only.”

“I heard rumors that this one-eye practices cannibalism so meeting this guy is highly dangerous. Also, other ghouls can think you are the rumored one-eye. You have to be careful,” added Uta.

“Bla, bla, bla,” Itori interrupted. “Yea, people like gossiping. For example some claim that Rize’s death wasn’t an accident…”

“WHAT?!” both Rei and Kaneki exclaimed.

“You know so little, don’t you? Firstly, why there was so much steel stacked up above? Nobody knows. Also, it is said that there was somebody on the roof building above the crime scene. Some people saw the mysterious silhouette but nobody knows who was it…”

“Really?” a little bit tipsy Reila winded her eyes.

“Itori, stop it,” Yomo cut her short.

“But who could do something like this?” Kaneki wondered. “Yomo, did manager know about it?”

“Yoshimura kept quiet about it so that it wouldn’t bother you.”

“It must have been doctor Kanou!” shouted Rei. “Geez, I hate that guy so much!”

“And what would you do if you met him?” inquired Itori.

“Take revenge of course! I’d rip him apart!”

“Sunshine, calm down, you drank too much,” said Uta softly.

“No, no, this dickhead deserved this!”

“I can collect information who did it. But information is valuable you know. You have to give me some as well,” offered Itori, taking a sip from her glass.

“What do you mean?” asked Kaneki.

“Kaneki, you seem to be very close with Gourmet recently. Try to find out about The Ghoul Restaurant from him. It seems like a fair trade, doesn’t it?”

“Yea, I think I could it,” Kaneki responded.

“Weee, then we could take revenge Kaneki!” Reila delighted.

“I don’t want to take revenge Rei. I just want to know what happened for myself. After all, we don’t know if Kanou did it.”

“Yea, but I’m somehow convinced that it was him. Good, since the business is done why don’t we have some fun?” Reila proposed as she put on the mask which Itori previously wore, “I’m gonna eat you, Kaneki-kun!” and she began to tickle him.

“Rei-chan, stop it!” the teenager called out.

After few more drinks and some chatting, Itori’s guests were about to leave.

“Bye!” Ranji and Kaneki said goodbye.

“Bye, bye!” Reila hugged both of them.

“Huh, how much did you drink? You don’t look good,” stated Uta.

“Yea, take care of her, U-chan,” Itori winked.

“Yea, better take care of me U-chan,” Rei giggled.

* * *

 

Uta somehow managed to bring Reila to her apartment. He even made sure that she went straight to the bed. But after a few seconds she refused to sleep.

“Come oooon, I’m not sleepy yet!” she stated and began jumping over the bed. Due to the excessive amount of alcohol which she previously consumed, she failed in jumping and fell on Uta who was sitting on a bed and both of them collapsed on a mattress, Reila on a top of him.

“U-chan!” she giggled and began to stroke his hair. Uta sighed. “Why does Itori talk to you sooooo sweetly? I’m jealous!”

“She’s an old friend of mine. There’s no reason to be jealous. However, it puzzles me why you’re jealous anyway…”

“Because I like you so, so, so much!” Reila explained and pressed her lips against his but Uta pushed her on the other side of bed and got up.

“Sunshine, you’re drunk, you should go to sleep. I’m leaving.”

“Nooo, U-chan doesn’t want to kiss me, U-chan doesn’t like me,” she cried. “Please, don’t go, I don’t want to be alone now!” she grabbed him by his wrist. He paused for a second.

“Ok, I’ll stay under the condition that there will be no more U-chaning and you go to sleep IMMEDIATELY.”

“Ooook, U-Uta,” she politely laid on a bed. She sobbed for a while and then fell asleep while Uta sat beside her, still feeling her lips on his.


	7. Chapter 7

It was almost noon when Reila woke up. She opened her eyes with effort. She had a horrible head-ache.  _I guess ghouls suffer from hangover as well_ , she thought, crawling out of  bed. She decided to make herself some fresh hot coffee to feel better. She stumbled out of the bedroom and walked towards kitchenette to turn on the coffee express. When she turned around, she noticed that someone was sleeping on the couch.  _I completely forgot about him…_  Reila gave herself a facepalm, remembering what happened the night before.  She tip-toed to the couch and bent towards Uta, stroking his shoulder, “Uta, are you asleep?”

“How am I supposed to sleep when someone is poking my shoulder?” he asked in a rhetorical question.

“You don’t have to be rude,” Reila grunted. “Do you want some coffee?”

“Yes, please,” he responded, sitting up on the couch. Reila approached the kitchenette and poured two cups of steamy coffee. Then, she sat next to Uta and handed him a cup.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she smiled faintly. “Because of last night, I’d like to deeply apologize you. I promise never to drink again. At least not to an excessive amount…”

“There’s no need to apologize Sunshine. You were a little bit annoying, that’s true, but also cute,” he gave her a smile.

“Oh… but I kissed you and you didn’t seem interested in it, so sorry for that.”

“Who said that I wasn’t interested?”

“You pushed me away, what was I supposed to think?”

“I didn’t know if you were conscious of the things that you were doing. I didn’t want you doing things which you would regret later. That’s it. It was not because I didn’t like it,” Uta explained, taking a sip.

“And I was too afraid to do it when I was sober,” admitted Rei.

“Am I that scary?” he asked.

“No! Of course not! I’m just… a reserved person. But if you don’t mind it,” she leaned towards him to give him a kiss but at the same time she accidentally nudged his arm with which he was holding coffee cup, causing the coffee to spill all over his T-shirt.

“I’m, I’m so sorry!” she squealed, leaning backwards.

“Don’t panic, it’s not a big deal,” Uta put the cup on a nearby coffee table and took off his shirt.

“I’ll clean it for you!” exclaimed Reila, whipping the T-shirt from his hand.

“It can wait,” Uta smirked and kissed her softly. She dropped the T-shirt on a floor and willingly kissed him back. “Are you sure that you want to do this?” he broke the kiss to state the question.

“Absolutely,” she replied, allowing him to take off her draped kimono and then dress. He was completely different from what Reila had imagined: he didn’t rush but slowly examined every inch of her body. He petted her neck with his lips and tongue, making some raised red suction marks on her skin which quickly disappeared. Then, he went lower to her breasts. He caressed one of them with his slender fingers while he tasted skin of the other one with his tongue. Then he switched the breasts while Reila was becoming more and more impatient. Uta all the time was teasing her, slowly going lower and lower and leaving gentle kisses on her stomach. Then he went straight to her thighs using his mouth, tongue and hands playfully.

“Oh, come on!” Reila hurried him.

“Don’t be so impatient Sunshine,” he replied.

Finally, he took off her underpants and started exploring her most sensitive areas with his tongue until she shivered and she felt a wave of pleasure overcome her body. Then, he took off his pants, situated himself on the top of her and gently pressed into her. They exchanged passionate kisses while rocking their hips  in a slow rhythm. Uta steadily increased the pace until they both were ready to finish.

After that, he stayed on a top of Rei, placing his head on her chest and inhaling the scent of her body. She began stroking his hair carelessly, while he petted her stomach with his fingers.

“Uta?” she whispered his name.

“Huh?” he hummed, raising his head up to see her face.

“Who are we exactly? I mean a couple, friends or something else?”

“And who do you want us to be?” he inquired.

“I, I want to be more than friends, but…” she stammered.

“But what? You don’t trust me?” he pierced her with in his gaze. She was surprised how well he read her mind. She tried not to show it, but Uta was so mysterious that he scared her sometimes, but at the same time he fascinated her a lot and the curiosity was winning.

“I do trust you. I dreamed about being so close with you but I hadn’t thought that it would ever become real. I have a feeling that all of this is happening too fast…”

Uta cleared his throat, “Miss Suzuki, I’ll be honored to be your boyfriend.”

“Oh… you don’t have to be so official,” she poked his nose.

“Does it mean yes?”

“I guess it does,” she grinned. “I need a shower now!”, she slipped under Uta and moved towards bathroom.

“Wait for me!” he chuckled, running after her.

Reila stepped under the shower and turned on cold water.

“Whoa, it’s cold!” Uta joined her.

“That’s because you need to chill!” she chuckled. “Do you need any help with washing?” she started soaping his chest.

“If you are so eager to help me, I’ll let you,” he beamed. “Also, there was no time to tell you earlier but I finished the masks for you. We can go to my studio after this and I’ll show you them.”

“That’s sounds cool!” Reila cheered up and gave him a kiss.

* * *

 

After a very long shower, Reila let Uta borrow one of her T-shirts which suited him and they went to his studio. It was already evening when they arrived there. Uta presented the first mask:

“Since we spoke about cats, here’s a cat mask,” he handed her black mask which was a face of a cat.

“That’s cute.” Reila declared.

“But I also made a nurse mask because this idea didn’t leave me alone. I made some modifications so that full face is covered,” he handed her another mask. Its lower part was a regular surgeon mask above which there was a part made from bandage so that forehead and eyes can be also covered. There was only one little whole on a right eye to expose her ghoul eye. On the top of the mask there was even a cap.

“Whoa, forget about the cats, I’ll take this one!” Reila got excited. “Can I try it on?”

“Of course, I’ll help you,” Uta assisted her in putting the mask on and brought a mirror so that she could see herself. Reila peered into her reflection for a minute, then she stated:

“It’s perfect.”

“I’m glad that you like it.”

“I have one more favor for you.”

“I’m listening.”

“You have a lot of mannequins here. Could you lend me one?”

“That’s a strange request but there’s no problem. Pick anything you want.”

“Thanks. But it’s quite late, can I sleep over?” she smirked after taking off the mask.

“I see no objections.”

* * *

 

The next day, Reila came back to her apartment with a new mask and a mannequin. She took out her set of surgeon instruments which she used to use as a student to memorize names of all of them and how to hand them to a surgeon. She picked up a scalpel and threw it toward a dummy. She missed it, but she gave one another try which was successful, she hit right in the eye. Reila smiled to herself. _I can’t wait to meet you Doctor Kanou_ , she thought.


	8. Chapter 8

A few days passed. Reila and Touka were cleaning up Anteiku after it closed. They were having casual small talk when Touka suddenly inquired:

“I hate to do that, but can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure, what’s up?” Reila responded friendly.

“Kaneki is planning to go to Itori tonight. Could you go there with him?”

“Ok, but why don’t you go with him?”

“He will know that I want to control him. But he wouldn’t mind visiting Itori with you. I don’t want him to get into any more trouble. Everytime he goes out, it ends up with problems,” Touka sighed.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Have you known that he went to the Ghoul Restaurant with Tsukiyama? And he was supposed to be the main course there… He barely got through this.” Touka said tremulously.

“Do you mean that Tsukiyama wanted to eat Kaneki? He doesn’t look like… a cannibal,”Reila’s eyes widened.

“You are very rarely at Anteiku recently, I’m not surprised that you know so little…”

“That’s because I spent a lot of time with Uta recently,” Reila blushed.

“Geez, you don’t want to tell me that you two…”

Reila said nothing but smiled shyly.

“Oh, do whatever you want but if I were you, I wouldn’t trust him so much.”

“Why?”

“He sympathazies with Anteiku but his past is pretty messed up. I didn’t know him when he was younger so everything I know about him I’ve learnt from Yomo’s stories. When they became friends, Uta was the boss of 4th ward and he wasn’t so merciful.”

“But people can change, can’t they?”

“Yea, sometimes, they can change too much…” Touka peered into the space.“Nevertheless, you should be careful.”

“What are you talking about?” Kaneki appeared suddenly, interrupting.

“Oh, nothing, just a girls’ talk.” Touka answered rapidly.

“I see. Goodbye then,” he gave them a smile.

“Kaneki wait! I’ve heard that you’re going to Itori. Can I go there with you? I made an appointment with Uta there.”

“Yea, why not? We can go there together, it would be more fun.”

“Just wait for me here, I’ll quickly change the clothes,” she said and rushed upstairs. Kaneki and Touka exchanged glances but Touka looked away.

* * *

 

“Did Touka ask you to accompany me?” Kaneki questioned when they were heading to Helter Skelter.

“What? Nooo, no!” Reila rapidly denied.

“You’re a poor liar Rei-chan,” Kaneki smiled.

Reila embarrassed herself, “Yea, you’re right. I’m going only because Touka asked me to. She’s really worried about you Kaneki-kun, you know.”

“Yea, I know. But it’s unnecessary.”

“Don’t say it’s unnecessary! She… she likes you a lot. It’s normal. Don’t you see it?”

“Oh really? For most of the time she’s like she wants to kick my ass. And at the beginning of our friendship she was even worse to me than right now,” Kaneki said bitterly.

“The beginnings are alwyas the hardest,” Reila smiled to herself, “And what about you, don’t you like her?”

Kaneki flushed, “I’d rather not to talk about it, but I can feel that I can confess to you. Just please don’t tell it to her. I do like her. More than I should.”

“Your secret is safe with me Kaneki-kun,” Reila grinned, “but why won’t you say it to her?”

“You know how she is. She would punch me in the face for such confessions.”

“Maybe,” Reila giggled, “Geez I’ve just pictured this! But seriously, I think that deep inside her, she feels the same for you. She just doesn’t want to show it. So maybe it’s worth giving a try.”

“Really?” Kaneki didn’t seem convinced.

“Yea. I think she has some trust issues because of the reasons I don’t know but she’s not so cold-hearted as she looks. Being sincere about your feelings can really pay off, trust me.”

“Oh, have you been in similar situation?”

“Kind of,” Rei admitted “and everything ended up going well.”

“I can see that you are beaming with happiness recently. Let me guess, you and Uta…?”

“Yup.”

“Congrats then,” Kaneki threw his arm around her shoulders.

“Ummm, thanks. Kaneki you deserved the best. Promise me, you’ll talk with Touka.”

“I promise,” he grinned when they were entering Itori’s bar.

* * *

 

“What do you mean by saying that you got no information?!” Itori burst after Kaneki’s report about his visit at the Ghoul Restaurant.

“Itori, don’t yell at him! It’s not his fault!” Reila defended her friend. Itori was silent for a while.

“Ok, maybe I’m too harsh. Yomo said that I shouldn’t have asked you to go there in the first place and he was right. You were lucky to make it out alive. And we know that you need to be invited by the member of the restaurant to go inside. At least you’ve tried so I’ll give you a hint about Rize. She’s the key to the accident. Knowing the truth about her is connected to knowing the truth about the accident. And one more thing - Rize Kashimiro has never existed.”

Kaneki and Reila stared at Itori, not knowing what to say. The first who spoke was Reila:

“What does it suppose to mean Itori?! You demanded Kaneki to do such dangerous things for you and all what you have to say is that there’s no such person like Rize?” she blasted.

Itori’s lips parted, “Rei-chan why are you so mad? All what I want to say is that her name and personal data were totally made up. Ghouls often change their names, but there are slightly changes like changes in spelling. But very rarely they completely throw away their birth name like Rize did. You should find out more about her past before she moved to 20th ward. There are many situations when the truth is hidden. Just keep it in mind,” Itori concluded while pouring some blood to her glass.

“Ok, thank you Itori,” Kaneki thanked her. Reila just sat there without uttering a word.

* * *

 

When they left Helter Skelter, it was already dark outside. The air was cold and there were not so many people on the streets but Kaneki offered to see Reila off. During the walk they were talking about the meeting at Itori.

“I’m curious how much about this the Manager and Yomo know,” Kaneki wondered.

“Yea, me too,” Reila nodded, “Kaneki, I’m afraid that we’ll never know the whole truth… Everyone is hiding something from us. I just want to meet doctor Kanou and take revenge for putting us in such a mess.”

“Rei-chan, we’ve talked about it…”

“I know, but I won’t change my mind,” Reila said firmly. “Can you feel this smell?” she added when a boy who was passing them by, bumped into Kaneki.

“I’m so sorry!” Kaneki exclaimed immediately.

“I’m the one who should apologize. I was lost in my thoughts for a while,” said short, white-haired boy, dressed in black jacket and shorts and white shirt. He wore colorful suspenders and a pair of slippers on his feet. Reila and Kaneki couldn’t see his face because it was covered with his bangs. “I should get-going, I’m in a hurry,” the boy added and walked away.

“What a creepy guy,” said Reila, staring at the wandering silhouette. “And he has such a delicious smell, I haven’t met a person with such smell before.”

“Yea, there was something extraordinary about him,” Kaneki agreed. They went further but Kaneki suddenly stopped: “Rei-chan wait. I think I’ve lost my wallet.”

* * *

 

“License, library card, student ID…” the white-haired boy was tossing personal cards from Kaneki’s wallet, “Kaneki Ken, age 19. That’s my age!” he cheered up, “And let’s see, umm… one, two, three thousand yen. That’s bad, I won’t buy anything great to eat with this amount of money…” he was so upset that he didn’t notice that he was stalked by the group of three male ghouls. They decided to attack him at the parking which was completely empty at this time of a night.

“Oh, you’ve come to me to play?” asked the boy. “Ok, let’s play, I’ll be a chef and you’ll be the pigs.”

Ghouls looked at each other and laughed. The boy put out a few switchblades from his pocket and threw them towards one of the ghouls. All switchblades hit the ghoul’s corpse and he collapsed on a ground so the boy quickly jumped to him and broke his neck. The other ghouls just stood and watched this in disbelief. Finally, one of them moved towards the boy, trying to attack him:

“Hey, who the fuck are you think you are?”

But the boy was quicker. He jumped toward the ghoul and moved the blade through his eyes. The ghoul fell on the ground, not able to defense himself. Then the boy sat on him and started stabbing him in chest numerous times. His moves were fast and experienced. Finally, the boy cut off his arms and replied to the previous question:

“I’m Suzuya Juuzou, rank 3 ghoul investigator!” Then, he turned around to the last ghoul who stayed alive and began cutting every inch of his body. The ghoul started apologizing:

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

“But it was you, who came to play with me, wasn’t it?” asked the boy and sliced his throat.“I’m the chef and you’re a pig,” the boy smiled.

* * *

 

“A pick-pocket? You don’t remember anything like his face or something?” asked old Kaneki’s friend - Hide.

“His face was covered so we couldn’t see it well,” Reila explained.

“What the heck? Did you report it?” Touka joined the conversation.

“Nah, I was able to get back my student ID so it wasn’t necessary,” said Kaneki.

“No, no, Touka-chan is right! You should report it! Otherwise, this guy will steal again!” added Hide vigorously.

It was an ordinary day at Anteiku, the four friends were talking while the new employee of the cafe appeared. It was a tall young man with hazelnut hair and a pair of glasses.

“Senpai!” exclaimed Hide, “what made you choose to work here? Is it because of Touka-chan? No way!”

“So, Hide do you know our new co-worker, Nishki?” wondered Reila.

“Of course, he studies at the same university as Kaneki and I,” Hide answered.

“Unfortunately…” sighed Nishki, “I have some reasons to work here and it’s not because of Touka-chan, I already have a girlfirend if you didn’t know.”

“Oh, that’s right. Geez, the main office increase the number of investigators again,” said Hide, watching the television screen, “Was it always so dangerous here? I can’t feel it.”

“Me neither,” stated Reila.

“I’ll go upstairs to feed Loser,” stated Touka and she went out.

* * *

 

“Touka-chan?” Kaneki asked shyly while entering the room. The girl was sitting there on a coffee table, gazing mindlessly into the space, “did you feed Loser?” he added.

“Huh? Oh yeah…” she answered, coming back from her thoughts. Kaneki sat in a chair nearby her. “This bird is really pitiful. He’s spending all of his time in this cage and he can’t fly around freely. That’s really unfortunate, isn’t it? The funniest thing is that more and more I feel like a caged bird.”

“Stupid scum!” the bird shrieked.

“Huh? What did you say? Watch your language you little dirty bird!” Touka’s mood changed quickly.

“Touka-chan,” Kaneki put his hand on her shoulder, “You’re not alone, we have each other,” he implied.

“What do you mean?”

“Umm, you see, other ghouls, Anteiku…” Kaneki quickly pulled his hand back.

“Oh,” Touka gasped. The moment of silence fell. Kaneki reminded Reila’s look which she sent him when he was going upstairs: Here’s your chance dude.

“Actually no. I meant that we have each other, you and I, because I really like you and no matter what I’ll always be your friend and even more if you just want to…”

“Oh, shut up already, you jellyfish!” Touka cut in and closed his mouth with a kiss. Kaneki’s eyes widened but he willingly kissed her back.

“Stupid scum!” Loser shrieked once again.

“Oh, will you shut up finally, you dumb bird?” Touka shouted at the bird. Then she said to Kaneki in a lowered voice, “I like you too. But I don’t think it’s a good time to start a relationship.”

“No, there will never be a good time for that,” Kaneki said firmly, holding her hands, “There will always be ghouls and Doves and we always will be fighting with each other. This world is wrong but I want to live in this world with you, together.”

Touka said nothing but smiled faintly. Finally she said:

“You’re very persistent, huh? Well then, we’ve gone through so much already together, I’ll be honored to go through more as your partner,” she carelessly stroke his hair. Kaneki’s face lit up. “Now, let’s go, probably all downstairs are worried about us.”

* * *

 

“How’s your day?” Uta asked, not stopping sketching in his note.

“Not bad,” Reila answered, collapsing on a mattress and turning on tv.

“I’ve heard that you argued with Itori yesterday.”

“Geez, I can see that news spread out quickly,” she said changing the channels, “It was not an argue, it was… a discussion.”

“I see,” Uta smirked, joining her on the mattress and throwing his arm around her shoulders. “Do I need to comfort you after this discussion?” he kissed her on the forehead.

“Hmm, I wouldn’t mind,” she pressed her lips against his.


	9. Chapter 9

“We have fewer and fewer customers recently…” Reila sighed as she wiped the dishes. There were four of them at Anteiku: her, Kaneki, Nishki and Koma but none of them had much work to do.   
“Yea, especially very few ghouls visit us…” added Kaneki.  
“That’s because Doves are being vigilant. The Doves from the Main Office specialize in exterminating ghouls so most of them are scared of going out to the streets,” Nishki explained.  
“I’m more worried about 11th ward than here, to be honest. Ghouls cooperate with each other there. And they’re hunting investigators together. It may turn into a really bad situation soon. I wonder if the days when I’ll be called ‘Demon Ape’ will return…” wondered Koma.  
“Yea, yea, c’mon you demon ape. Reila and Kaneki are closing today,” said Nishki and he went upstairs to change clothes. Koma followed him.  
Just before the closing four customers appeared. It was a tall man with short black hair and fancy beard. He was surrounded by three masked people. The man asked:  
“Can I talk to the manager?”  
“The manager is out right now, sir,” Kaneki answered, “but if you have something to say to him, I can pass it on.”  
“Right. I can ask you as well,” the man stated. “Do you guys know Rize Kamishiro?”  
Reila and Kaneki’s eyes widened. They looked at each other, not knowing what to say.  
Is he a ghoul investigator? Kaneki thought and Reila was able to read it from his look.  
Reila whose sensing abilities were better shook her head, No, it’s a ghoul, said her look.  
“Show us your eyes,” she demanded.  
“Rei-chan!” exclaimed Kaneki.  
“No, it’s fine,” the man’s eyes turned black and red, “you need to know that I’m not an investigator. There are plenty of those shitheads recently around here. My name is Banjou and these are my companions, you can trust us. I was with Rize in the 11th ward. I found out that she visits this cafe. Do you know where she is?”  
“Um, we can’t help you sir. We don’t know where she is, right Kaneki-kun?” Reila sent him meaningful look.  
“I see,” Banjou sighed and silenced. Then he started sniffing around. “So why do you smell like her?” he grabbed Kaneki by his shirt and sent him suspicious look.   
“No, sir you’ve mistaken…” started Reila, but Banjou cut it:  
“I’ve always recognize this sweet scent! Oh no, that’s not possible! Are you Rize’s boyfriend?!” he cried.  
“Huh?” Kaneki’s lips parted. Banjou lifted Kaneki and raised a fist, ready to punch him.  
“Hey! Don’t fight in a shop!” Reila tried to calm him down.  
“So?!” Banjou was close to punching Kaneki, but he dodged, freed himself and completely by accident nudged Banjou’s neck. As a result, he immediately collapsed on the floor and lay there without any sign of life.  
“What’s the matter with him?” asked Reila.  
“Oh nothing. He just… passed out. Sorry about him,” explained one of Banjou’s companions.   
“Ok, you can take him upstairs, there are free rooms. You can spend a night here, we’ll talk tomorrow,” proposed Reila.  
“Thanks,” said Banjou’s companions,”You see, Banjou-san, he… he really loves Rize. He admires her a lot and was pretty sad when she disappeared,” one of them added.  
“I see,” Reila smiled.

* * *

  
“Huh?! You allowed the strangers to sleep here? Have you lost your minds?” Touka criticized Reila and Kaneki next morning.  
“Shh, Touka-chan, they’re drinking coffee next to you!” whispered Kaneki.  
“I don’t care!” Touka shouted at him.  
“Trust me, they’re not as dangerous as they look,” said Reila. “Kaneki, maybe you could check out what’s with Banjou-san?”  
“Alright. I’ll bring him some water,” Kaneki put a glass of water on a tray and went upstairs. Banjou started to wake up.  
“Hello! How are you feeling?” Kaneki inquired. Banjou blinked and grabbed the glass handed by Kaneki. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t want to hit you so hard,” Kaneki apologized.  
“What’s your name?” Banjou asked, taking a sip.  
“It’s Kaneki Ken sir.”  
“Kaneki, you’re much stronger than you look like. That’s why Rize chose you…”  
“Um, Banjou-san you’re mistaken. I didn’t have that sort of relationship with Rize…”  
“Is that so? I’m so sorry then!” Banjou bowed, “Today, I actually can feel that your scent is different than hers! So do you know where she is?” he raised his head.  
“Um, she has already left this place…” Kaneki lied.  
“I see… That’s her! She can’t stay in one place for longer…” Banjou sighed. “You don’t know where she is, do you?”  
“No, I’m sorry.”  
“So if you see her, tell her to run away. 11th ward is ruled by the group of ghouls who hunt and kill Doves. They also search for Rize for some reason…”  
Suddenly, a window was smashed and in the room appeared a boy with dark blue hair.  
“You like to talk a lot, Banjou,” he said and kicked Banjou in a stomach.  
“Ayato,” Banjou grunted. His companions appeared in the room immediately and helped him to sit down. Behind them, appeared Touka and Reila.  
“What the fuck is happening here?” asked the first one. She instantly froze when she saw a new guest.  
“Long time, no see stupid sis,” Ayato greeted her.  
“Ok, I’m lost,” stated Reila. “Hey, what are you doing here? This room is not for customers,” she said to the two men who just came in. The one of them was a muscular blonde dressed in a suit, while the second one was a brunette in a full make-up and in a colorful clothes.  
“But you let our friend in but we can’t be here?” asked the blonde one.  
“Yamori! You’re mistaken, Rize isn’t here!” Banjou exclaimed.  
“Oh Banjou-san. Orders were clear, we have to capture Rize herself or the person who smells like her. Thanks to the subtle Nico’s smell, we ended up here.” said Yamori.  
“Yea,” Nico giggled, “It’s the boy. But this red-haired girl has an interesting smell as well.”  
“We take the boy only,” stated Yamori, “we can’t touch a girl. Orders from above.”  
“Huh? What that is supposed to mean?!” Reila questioned but she didn’t get an answer.  
“Let’s take him back quickly,” ordered Yamori.  
“Do you think we’ll let you do that?” Touka covered Kaneki with her body but Yamori made her fall on the floor with a one hit of his arm.  
“Doing what one likes is the right of the strong.” Yamori grabbed Kaneki and threw him against the wall.  
“You bastard!” shouted Reila as she activated her kagune and pointed it at Yamori. Ayato was faster and blocked her attack.   
“Take that!” he shot the parts of his kagune towards her.  
“Fufu, she has a real temper! I like that!” excited Nico.  
“Shut up Nico!” Yamori ordered. “Ayato, you idiot, don’t hurt her!”  
“She’ll be fine,” Ayato said back.   
“And you, don’t do anything stupid and I won’t hurt you anymore,” Yamori said to Kaneki. But Kaneki didn’t listen to him and tried to punch him. Yamori quickly dodged the attack and pierced Kaneki’s stomach with his kagune.  
“You fucker!” this time it was Touka who tried to attack but Ayato simply punched her in a face. Touka fell but rapidly stood up and activated her kagune.  
“Oh you stupid sis, you won’t win,” said Ayato while piercing her with the shots from his kagune. “And you won’t win because you’re weak. Mom and Dad were always weak. That’s why they’re dead now!”  
“Don’t you dare to talk about Mom and Dad!” Touka grunted.   
“You should crawl on the floor like a worm. Just like now,” he added. “Pack the boy in the bag and let’s get out of here.” Ayato demanded.

* * *

  
“Touka-chan, I’m so sorry!” Reila cried.  
“It’s not you fault Rei-chan. I couldn’t do anything either.”  
“I just don’t have any idea why they took Kaneki but not me. I feel awful now,” the tears were running all over her face. Finally, Yoshimura and Yomo entered the cafe. All what they saw was a mess and two wounded waitresses.   
“They took them, didn’t they?” asked Yoshimura simply. Reila nodded sadly while Touka only twitched. “Yomo-kun gather everyone. Anteiku will be shut for a while.”

* * *

  
“Sunshine, what happened?” asked Uta when he entered her apartment. Reila has already taken a shower and was putting clean clothes on her.  
“They took Kaneki…” she responded mindlessly.  
“Are you alright?” he looked at her closely to see if she didn’t have any serious wounds. “And who did this to you? Who took Kaneki?”  
“Yea, I’m alright,” she spoke back as he hugged her, “I don’t know them, they were some ghouls… Yoshimura said that they were the members of Aogiri Tree…”  
Uta’s face changed. He widened his eyes and then frowned, his eyebrows creasing. Then, he stopped hugging her and moved away and asked her with a stony face:  
“Did they hurt you?”  
“Not really. Actually, one of them attacked me when I was trying to defend Kaneki. I didn’t know that kagune’s attacks were so painful. But I’m good now, look,” she tugged up her T-shirt to show him that her chest was without a scratch. “Since I eat human flesh I regenerate quickly,” she smiled faintly.  
“It doesn’t matter. Which one of them did hurt you?”  
“Ayato, Touka’s brother. It’s funny, I didn’t know that she had a brother until now.”  
Uta squinted his eyes, “Is Anteiku planning something due to this… kidnapping?” he asked.  
“I don’t know, Yoshimura is having a meeting soon. He asked if you can make a few replicas of masks and cloaks which are worn by Aogiri’s members. I think he wants us to go to their stronghold to save Kaneki. Anteiku is closed currently.”   
“I see. Of course, I’ll do anything to help…” they both were quiet for a while.   
Reila curled up on a bed, Uta joined her and held her tightly, “I won’t leave you tonight. I have to make sure you’re safe.”  
“Good. I don’t want to be alone,” she paused, “But one thing intrigues me,” she added.  
“Which one?”  
“They took Kaneki because they had orders to capture Rize or someone who smells like her. So they took him. And they said that they couldn’t take me away despite my interesting smell. I don’t know why him not me.”   
“Don’t blame yourself, it’s not the time for that. Generally, have you wondered if you were made into a ghoul from another’s ghoul, not Rize?”  
“Huh? Why do you say that?”  
“I’ve seen your kagune and your type is definitely bikaku. As I know Rize’s kagune type was rinkaku. The same is Kaneki after her.”  
“So you imply that Kanou used another ghoul to turn me into one, not Rize?”  
“Exactly.”  
“What a psycho! Now I hate him even more!”  
“Don’t think about that now. Try to have some sleep,” he kissed her cheek.

* * *

  
“Does she have to go with us?”   
“Don’t complain Sunshine. I know you don’t like her but Itori wants to help.” Uta uttered.  
“It’s not that I don’t like her, she just… irritates me sometimes,” Reila explained herself.  
They headed to Helter Skelter to pick up Itori and then they were about to go to Anteiku for a meeting which Yoshimura had prepared.   
“U-chan, Rei-chan, hello!” Itori waved to them from the entrance.  
“It begins…” Reila muttered.  
“Rei-chan, why are you so serious? Are you stressed before your first big fight?”  
Reila opened her mouth to answer but Uta was first, “She’s not going.”  
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know.”  
“Excuse me!” Reila exclaimed, “You’re not my father to decide about me! Of course, I’m going to take back Kaneki. He’s my friend.”  
“No, you’re not, it’s too dangerous.”  
“I won’t let you go by yourself! If you’re going, I’m going as well!”  
“Oh, I didn’t know that I would provoke such a big quarrel! U-chan, let her go with you if she wants to help. The more people will go, the bigger chances there are of saving Kaneki,” Itori cut in, “You’ll keep an eye on her, won’t you?” she blinked.  
“Alright, alright,” Uta finally agreed. Reila threw her arms around him with  joy.  
“And how are you helping to save Kaneki, Itori?” she asked.  
“I’ve gained information about Aogiri’s stronghold. I even have a map so that you won’t lost!”  
“Your skills of gathering information always amuse me,” Reila spitted out.   
“That’s years of experience!” Itori giggled, “Let’s go!”

* * *

  
When they arrived at Anteiku, everybody has already been there: Yoshimura, Yomo, Touka, Hinami, Nishki, Koma, Irimi and Tsukiyama. Reila was really surprised by the presence of the last ones.  
“Oi! Can we go in?” Itori asked through the door’s frame.  
Reila and Uta also peered inside.  
“Of course,” Yoshimura welcomed them.  
“Here you go! It’s just a sketch though,” explained Itori as she handed the Manager an envelope.  
“Thank you Itori-san.”  
“And this is from me,” Uta handed him a bag full of masks and cloaks.  
“They are perfect as well,” the Manager praised him.  
“I’m happy to hear that,” Uta grinned, ”Also, can I go along with you? I can’t leave my love by herself,” he asked Yoshimura.  
“Please do Uta-kun,” the Manager agreed, “the more of us will be, the better. Now then, Hinami-chan and Irimi-san will go with me. Touka-chan, Rei-chan, Nishki-kun and Tsukiyama-kun are going with Yomo-kun and Uta-kun. Is this clear?”  
Everybody nodded. Only Koma inquired: “And what should ‘The Devil Ape’ do?”  
“I’d like ‘the Devil Ape’ to protect the shop,” Yoshimura proposed.  
“Understood!” Koma accepted. 


	10. Chapter 10

It was chill December night when both groups: Anteiku and CCG attacked Aogiri’s stronghold. All Anteiku members entered Aogiri’s headquarters easily, wearing their cloaks and masks. One ghoul from Aogiri who bumped into them even asked:  
“What are you doing here? The place is full of Doves with their cases, let’s go on a roof and see what will happen,” then he ushered them upstairs, “Don’t you know where Yamori is?” the ghoul inquired but everyone denied, “Geez, when he’s needed the most, he probably is in his playroom…”  
“A playroom?”  
“Yup, he has a hobby room at the back of building 5. Don’t you know about this guys? He has a new ‘toy’ and he often goes there to ‘play’. What group are you in?”  
The ghoul didn’t hear the answer because Touka quickly attacked him, ripping his head off.   
“Anteiku,” she answered to the headless ghoul.  
“Geez, did you have to do that?!” cried Reila.  
“Yes, when he learnt that we’re not from Aogiri and that he revealed us information about Yamori, he would kill us as well,” Touka explained.  
“Ok, ok. Since we have necessary information we can go to this building 5, can’t we?” inquired Reila.  
“It’s not so simple Rei-chan,” said Yomo. “According to Yoshimura’s group’s information Doves and Aogiri are struggling in building 5 so it won’t be easy to reach it. Also, we should avoid building 1 and 2.”  
“Stupid Doves, did they have to pick up the same day to attack Aogiri as we?” wondered Reila.  
“Rei-chan please don’t ask stupid questions. We should prepare to fight.”

* * *

  
“Ok, Yomo-kun, you can exit this building and move to the next one, there aren’t any Doves,” said Irimi to the microphone. She sat along with Yoshimura and Hinami, staring at the map and listening to closely.  
“Irimi-san, you’re amazing,” Hinami praised her.  
“Oh, I’m sure you can do it as well. Ghouls have an incredible senses. If you listen closely you can hear how many people are in the building by their footsteps, tell if they use kagune or quinque and so on… It seems that Kaneki is in a detached building to building number 5 but it’s very hard to hear something from it. Just try it.”  
Hinami focused on listening by her little ears. Finally she screamed:  
“I can hear it! I can hear Kaneki there!”

* * *

  
Touka came back to reality from her daydreaming by the scream of her name. Yomo covered her with his body from the bullets shot by a couple of Doves. The investigators were quickly killed by Uta and Tsukiyama but everyone complained to her.  
“I’m sorry, it was so quiet for a while, I was lost in my thoughts,” she explained herself. She didn’t want to confess that she was thinking about Kaneki.  
“Fuck, concentrate a little bit in the future,” demanded Reila, “Yomo, are you ok?”  
“Yea, I’m not so easy to kill. Let’s go!” Yomo ordered. He walked along the wall but suddenly he stopped. “I can see some Doves troops. We won’t manage to pass all of them. We have to regroup. Uta, Tsukiyama and I will go this way. Reila, Touka and Nishki go and find different way.”  
“But I’m not leaving Uta!” Reila opposed.  
“Rei-chan it’s not a time for your private stuff,” said Yomo sharply.  
“He’s right Sunshine. I’ll be fine and you won’t be able to fight with such a large group. Go and find safer way.”  
“Reila, Touka, let’s go,” said Nishki and both girls followed him.

* * *

  
“Are we heading on a rooftop?” Reila inquired as they were running upstairs.  
“Do you have any better ideas? It’s better to hide there and wait until everything calms down,” Nishki said ironically.  
“Ok, Mr. I-Know-Everything,” Touka mumbled.  
“What did you say?”   
“Nothing,” Touka looked away.  
“Watch out!” Nishki shrieked suddenly and protected Touka against shots from kagune. Reila who was behind Touka immediately stopped. Wounded Nishki collapsed on the stairs.  
“What are you doing here, stupid sis? Are you searching for your boyfriend? From what I know, Yamori took care of him and due to the fact that that guy really loves to torture, your love is already dead!” Ayato laughed.  
“Damn you, you stupid brat!” Touka yelled at him. Then she added to Reila in a lowered voice, “Run away to the rest of team, get some help.”  
“But Tou…” Reila tried to oppose.  
“RUN I SAID!” Touka shouted at her.  
“Oh, how generous, you help your shitty friend to escape. Such a shame, she won’t do it. Two of you, go after her! The rest of you, take them on the roof!” Ayato ordered.

* * *

  
Reila quickly noticed that she was being chased. Suddenly, she breathed in a delicious smell, somehow familiar. She ran from the stairs to the enormous hall and she saw a white-haired boy surrounded by the corpses of ghouls. She recognized in him a boy who had bumped into Kaneki one night when they were returning from Itori. That’s why the smell seemed so familiar. The difference was that this time she could see his face. His big crimson eyes stared at her and he smirked.  
“Maybe I’d have more fun with you,” he said cheerfully.  
This guy is an investigator? Shit, I can’t fight with him right now, she thought. Luckily she was wearing a mask so maybe he wouldn’t recognize her. But it was a good moment to show him that not every ghoul is bad, so she stopped and turned around towards ghouls who were chasing her. She took out a scalpel which she wore fastened to the garter on her right thigh and threw it towards one of them. She hit directly in an eye what slowed ghoul a little bit. She activated her kagune and started cutting the second ghoul with it.   
“You’re a ghoul, why are you fighting with ghouls?” the boy asked, “It’s my job!”  
“So stop talking and do your fucking job!” she yelled. He listened to her and jumped towards the ghoul with the scalpel in the eye. He was still busy cutting him with his switchblade when Reila finished fighting with her opponent and ran away to avoid confrontation with the investigator. Once he killed the ghoul, he walked toward one with whom Reila was fighting and saw that he’s dead as well.  
She killed him… A ghoul who kills a ghoul… Who are you? Juuzou thought as he moved forwards.

* * *

  
“Welcome shitty Eye-patch,” these were the first words which Ayato said to Kaneki when he appeared on the rooftop. “You’ve changed, haven’t you? In other case you wouldn’t manage to escape from Yamori. Such a shame your girlfriend is in such a bad condition…”  
Kaneki looked around. Wounded Nishki was sitting under the wall and unconscious Touka was lying on the ground. She had pretty impressive wound on her back. It looked like someone was trying to rip off her kagune. Kaneki calmly put his mask on.   
“Ayato, tell me, why did you join Aogiri?” Kaneki asked.  
“What kind of question is that? Aogiri is a strong group, not like Anteiku. And I’m not weak, human loving ghoul like my shitty sister.” Ayato spitted out.  
“I see. But what was the REAL reason you joined Aogiri?” Kaneki continued.  
“That’s none of your damn business!”  
“I think you’ve picked up this organization to protect your sister.”  
“Shut up! You know nothing!”   
“Touka-chan doesn’t have any other siblings, so I won’t kill you. But you will suffer as much as her.”  
The fight between two of them started.

* * *

  
“Monsieur Hysy?” Tsukiyama asked politely as they finished fighting with the group of Aogiri ghouls which they had encountered.  
“Huh?” Uta spoke back. “Are you talking to me? I suppose so since Hysy is the name of my shop.”  
“Yes, I’d like to ask you a personal question.”  
“Go ahead.”  
“Why do you never use your kagune during fighting?”  
“Oh, it’s because… I don’t think I need it. It’s like the two people fighting.”  
“Such a shame! I’d like to see what our great mask-maker hides inside!”  
“Nothing special.”  
“Haha, you’re so funny!” Tsukiyama laughed.   
“Guys!” Reila shrieked as she ran towards them.  
“Mademoiselle Reila!” Tsukiyama exclaimed, Uta simply ran towards her and embraced her tightly, “Are you ok?” he asked.  
“Yea, but Touka and Nishki… we were almost on the rooftop when Ayato attacked us with his group. They stayed there and sent me for help.”  
“Ok, let’s go there,” Yomo quickly decided, “To be honest I recently started feeling an ominous presence above us, we should go there anyway. Is this way clear?” he turned to Reila.  
“Yes, I’ve met only one investigator but I don’t think he followed me.”  
“You didn’t kill him?” Uta inquired.  
“No, I couldn’t have done that,” Reila’s voice trembled.  
“Damn it Reila!” he clenched his fist to punch her but he stopped himself from doing it, “You’re a ghoul and he’s investigator, we fight with each other. What if we meet him now?”  
“I’m so sorry! I just can’t, I just can’t kill people!” Reila kneeled down and cried.  
“Uta, chill out. As Reila said he was alone and there are four of us. Let’s go!” he ordered as he helped Reila to stand up.   
When they reached the rooftop, they noticed wounded Touka, Nishki and Ayato. The two ghouls who were fine were Kaneki and unfamiliar ghoul from Aogiri, though, he didn’t wear a standard Aogiri mask but his own one, with a wide smile and two little holes for nostrils.   
“Kaneki!” Reila threw herself towards him and hold him closely, “Kaneki, why your hair is white?” she asked, still crying as she touched his hair.  
“I don’t know… all I know is that I have to fight so please let me go Rei-chan.”  
“No, you don’t have to do it anymore Kaneki-kun. Please rest.” Yomo laid his hand on Kaneki’s shoulder, “Rei-chan please take care of him and we’ll take care of our new friend.” said Yomo and Reila nodded.  
Tsukiyama took off his cloak and pointed kagune at the stranger ghoul. He managed to jab a hole in a ghoul’s chest but it regenerated immediately. Uta attacked from behind, he put his hands through ghoul’s chest but there was no reaction.  
“Hold him like that!” ordered Yomo and twirled in air and removed ghoul’s head with a one kick. But threads of blood from ghoul’s head and the rest of the body mixed up so that his head was soon on the right place.  
“Whoa, he has great regeneration skills. I wonder what he tastes like…” sighed Tsukiyama. Suddenly, a loud beeping came from a ghoul side. It was a clock which he took out from his coat. The ghoul turned off an alarm while everybody stared at him. Then, he swiftly grabbed unconscious Ayato, threw him through his shoulder and walked away. The ghouls from Anteiku still stood there in a shock.  
“Wha, he just left?” Reila asked a rhetorical question.  
“Yea, we should go home as well.” Yomo spoke back.

* * *

  
Everyone met outside the buildings. Touka was carried out by Nishki but when she finally could walk on her own, she threw herself in Kaneki’s arms at once.  
“I hope you’re going to do something with your hair. Blonde doesn’t suit you. Furthermore, you will really stand out in Anteiku…” she talked on and on.  
“Touka-chan,” Kaneki finally cut in, “I’m not going back to Anteiku…”  
“What?” she stepped back and blinked her eyes nervously.  
“There are other things that I want to do,” Kaneki explained. “There are many things that I want to find out. I don’t have enough time…”  
“Kaneki-kun, I just wanted to thank you. You saved us from Aogiri prison,” Banjou interrupted, “so that’s why I’d like to help you.”  
“That’s great Banjou-san, I appreciate your help.” Kaneki shook his hand.  
“Tres bien!” Tsukiyama clapped his hands, “If Banjou-san will be helpful, I can be helpful as well. Let me join you,” Tsukiyama kneeled in front of Kaneki.  
“How are you not dead?” asked Kaneki.  
“It’s not so easy to kill me!”   
“Alright,” Kaneki nodded then he whispered to Tsukiyama, “but if you try to eat me once again, you’ll regret it.”  
“I don’t regret that I didn’t eat you earlier, you’re so sweet Kaneki-kun!”  
“Kaneki…” Touka said quietly, “Me too. I’m going with you too, right?”  
“Touka-chan, are you going to university? You’re going to take an exam, you should start studying for it soon. You can’t join me.”  
“Huh? What does that mean? Are you breaking up with me?”  
“To think about it, back then… you had right Touka-chan. This is not a good time to start a relationship. I’ll drop at cafe sometimes to drink a cup of coffee but that’s it. I’m sorry. See you later Touka-chan,” he sent them a faint smile. Touka just lowered her head, turned out and walked away. Nishki ran after her,”Touka, wait!” he shouted, “Kaneki, just… just stay alive!” he added.  
“I can’t believe what you’ve just said!” Reila yelled at Kaneki.  
“Calm down Sunshine, it’s his decision” said Uta softly.  
“HIS DECISION?! Since he’s with Touka he should also think about her!”  
“Hey, don’t talk about me in the third person, I’m right here.”    
“Sorry Kaneki, but taking Tsukiyama and Banjou over Touka? I don’t get it. It’s not… like you.”  
“I’ve changed Rei-chan. You would change as well if you went through the same as me.”  
Reila just couldn’t stand this anymore and simply walked away.  
“Kaneki-kun, I just wanted to say that this mask really started to suit you.”  
“Thank you Uta-kun. Take care.”  
“You too.” Uta responded and went to catch up Reila.

* * *

  
“I need a shower,” stated Reila as soon as she entered her apartment.  
“Me too,” said Uta, “let’s take it together.”  
“Sorry, I want to be alone for a while,” Reila refused and quickly locked the bathroom door in Uta’s face. Since she was in the bathroom she turned on the water and then she just sat and cried for a few minutes. She couldn’t accept what had happened that night. Kaneki’s refusion to come back to Anteiku, fights with ghouls and this strange investigator and finally arguing with Uta. Everything was spinning in front of her eyes. It took her a long time to settle down.   
“You can use the bathroom,” she said to Uta as she left it.  
“Sunshine are you alright?” he asked.   
“No,” she mumbled as she pierced her arm through Uta’s stomach. It was a move which she learnt from him. “Never again speak to me like you did it tonight.” she said sternly. Uta couldn’t move and a trickle of blood ran from his mouth. Despite this he smiled faintly and uttered:  
“Ok. I’m sorry.”  
Reila removed her arm and licked all the blood from it.


	11. Chapter 11

Reila was running through the dark corridor when suddenly the unknown person appeared in the front of her. She couldn’t recognize if it was a male or a female, but she knew that it was a ghoul dressed in a cloak and mask. She had to kill them. She activated her kagune and pointed it at them but the ghoul took off their mask and she saw a face of this weird investigator, his crimson eyes gazed at her.

“I’m a human, you can’t kill me,” he said, smiling scornfully.

That was true, she couldn’t do that. Her kagune got smaller and she just stood frozen.

“But I can kill YOU,” uttered investigator and threw his switchblade, hitting right in her heart. Reila collapsed on the ground, she couldn’t catch her breath and all she saw before she closed her eyes was a quinque sticking in her chest.

Somehow she managed to sit up and open her eyes. She wasn’t in a dark corridor, she was in her bed. She breathed heavily as she collapsed on the mattress. Uta was still sleeping next to her but he started to wake up.

“Bad dream huh?” he asked with his eyes partly open.

“Yea,” she answered. Since the raid on Aogiri stronghold she often had this type of dream. In these dreams she always see the ghoul that she had killed or a ghoul who turned out to be a human and she couldn’t kill him. Both visions made her feel guilty as hell.

“Oh,” Uta murmured as he threw his arms around her and held her tightly. She started to comb his hair with her slim fingers delicately which made her calm down.

Half the year had passed since Aogiri raid. It was the end of June and some things has changed. Kaneki lived somewhere out of 20th ward with Tsukiyama, Hinami, Banjou and his companions. Reila heard rumors that they were changing where they lived constantly. They often moved from one ward to another because Kaneki was still searching information about Rize’s background. However, she didn’t care about it. Kaneki and her were friends but now she didn’t care about anything connected with him. She couldn’t forgive him. She hadn’t even seen him since then. Anteiku was open again. The staff stayed the same, the only one missing was Kaneki. Touka was preparing for her exams at university so she couldn’t work much so Yoshimura employed one new waitress named Roma. She was a very clumsy girl and she broke a lot of dishes but they needed any help they could get. CCG still investigated cases of ghouls. Most of the investigators who had taken part in Aogiri Raid were promoted. Juuzou, who found a body of half dead Yamori in the ruins of Aogiri stronghold, was given a new quinque made from Yamori’s kagune. He was very pleased with his new weapon which was a scythe. But Reila knew nothing about investigators. She was still with Uta and that was an only thing that mattered for her. Sometimes she was even happy that she was a ghoul but then always she felt guilty.

“Do you feel better now?” he asked after a few minutes. From his tone she could hear that he was not as sleepy anymore.

“A little bit… yes. I just wish these nightmares would stop.”

Uta gave her a long kiss and Reila could feel his arousal so she asked: “Umm, I can feel that you are FULLY awake so maybe we can take advantage of it?”

“Why not?” he smirked and started touching her in her most sensitive areas. After all this time they have been together he already knew where and how to touch her to give her a pleasure so it didn’t took so long to make her aroused. When Reila was ready, she placed herself on a top of Uta, took his cock, pushed herself onto it and started riding him. Due to the excitement her kakugan activated and when she felt it, she stopped and instinctively covered her right eye but Uta said:

“How many times I have to tell you that you don’t have to do it? I love when your kakugan is activated when we’re making love.”

“I know, but somehow this is stronger than me,” Reila put down her arm and returned to thrusting her hips. She looked at his muscular, tattooed torso and arms as he reached his hand to her clit and started rubbing it. Reila’s lips parted to release a long moan. Soon, a wave of heat passed through her body.

“Feed me,” Uta demanded.

“Only if you ask politely,” she smiled mischievously.

Uta took a deep breath, he hated to do that, “Would you feed me, please?”

“Good boy,” Reila smirked and then she bit her left index finger deep enough to make it bleed. Then she shoved it to Uta’s mouth. He started sucking it eagerly. She was still jumping up and down on his length as she also thrust her middle finger in his mouth.

“Enough,” she said as she pulled out her fingers from his mouth, smearing blood all over his lips and chin. He lifted himself to the sitting position so that they were now face to face. He wrapped his hands around her neck and slid his tongue into her mouth. They were kissing passionately when he finally broke the kiss and ordered: “Now get up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Change of position,” he smirked.

“Ok,” Reila moved and stood up, he did the same.

“Good, you deserved for a treat,” he said, bit his wrist and slid it to her mouth before she was able to say something. She widened her eyes in a shock but accepted it and suck blood until he leaned his head to her ear and whispered: “Now turn around,” he pulled back his arm from her mouth and she did as he asked. He pulled inside her and she leaned over the nearby desk. They started rocking their hips.

“I’m still hungry,” stated Reila.

“You have to ask for it,” Uta spoke back as he pulled her long hair. Reila moaned and said: “Feed me once again please.”

He was still pulling her hair but placed his other hand on her mouth. She slid his two fingers between her teeth, bit them and began sucking blood as he was increasing the rhythm of moving their hips. Finally, he reached climax and fell, his chest on her back, kissing her neck. She calmly licked the rest of the blood from his fingers and then she spoke: “You’ve become rough.”

“So have you,” he spoke back, pulling out of her.

“Don’t say you don’t like that.”

He just smirked in response.

 

* * *

 

“Rrrrromaaa!” Nishki yelled at the newest Anteiku employer.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she cried as she started picking up the pieces of the broken cup.

“How many dishes have you broken this month? Try to be a little bit more focused on work,” Nishki still rumbled.

“Shut up Nishki!” Reila cut in. “He’s always like that to the female staff of the cafe, I think he doesn’t want us to flirt with him,” Reila blinked to Roma as she helped her to clean up.

“Yea, I know,” Roma giggled, “thank you.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing.” Reila cut the conversation.

“It would be better if Touka was here instead,” Nishki sighed.

“You know that she is preparing for the exams so it’s not possible. Besides, didn’t you quarrel with her as well?” Reila inquired.

“Oh, that’s a detail!”

“Yeah… Have you heard about the Restaurant guys?” Roma changed the subject.

“The restaurant?” Reila got interested.

“Someone walked all alone into the Ghoul Restaurant and killed everyone there. The rumor is that was one-eyed Kaneki. He defeated so many ghouls by himself! He must be so strong!” Roma was nearly melting as she said this.

Reila knew that it may have been the truth. Unlike Roma she didn’t see anything amazing in that. She frankly didn’t understand Roma’s fascination with Kaneki. That girl even didn’t know him personally. Reila did, and it was something she regretted, because in her opinion he turned out to be a real jerk.

“Kaneki-kun? He worked here,” Nishki informed her.

“Yea, I know, how cool is that? That’s why I moved here from the 19th ward. I hope to meet him soon,” Roma sounded like a crazy fan girl. Reila and Nishki exchanged bored looks.

“I think you’re too late for that. Kaneki won’t return to Anteiku. He told me that PERSONALLY,” said Reila, putting an emphasis on the last word.

“Never say never! You know him right? Tell me about him Rei-chan!”

Luckily for Reila the customers walked into cafe and she rushed to service them.

“Sorry Roma, maybe later,” she copped out.

 

* * *

 

Reila was sipping a drink at Helter Skelter when someone entered the bar. She and Itori turned around from the bar counter to see who the new guest was. To their both surprise it was Kaneki.

“Well, well, well our dear Eye-patch-kun! Please, take a seat!” Itori greeted him happily, “Do you want some blood wine?” she prepared a glass and a bottle.

“Yes, please,” Kaneki replied as he sat down on a bar stool next to Reila. “Thank you,” he uttered as Itori passed him the glass. “Hi, Rei-chan,” he said directly to her but she didn’t answer.

“Ruuuuude!” said Itori.

“What am I supposed to say?” inquired Reila, staring at her glass.

“Maybe ‘hello’ would be good at the beginning,” Kaneki smiled to her. She just sent him an angry look. “Or maybe not. Where’s Uta?”

“He works. He has a lot of projects to do.”

“I see. That was quite amusing to see you here without him.”

“Why?”

“Umm, you and Itori weren’t on good terms as I remember. No offence Itori.”

“None taken,” Itori grinned.

“Yeah, many things have changed Kaneki-kun. But I can’t see the reason why Uta’s friends couldn’t be my friends. We’re pretty good girlfriends, right Itori?”

“That’s right,” Itori confirmed.

“I had to find new friends since the old ones left me,” even though Reila didn’t use a particular name, it was obvious she was talking about Kaneki.

“Oh, you’re still mad about that. I don’t know how many times I have to apologize.”

“Just stop it. Itori, pour me some more whiskey please,” she passed her the glass. Itori filled it without a word.

“Right. Actually, there’s different reason I came here. I have a list of escapes from Cochlea.”

“Wow, how did you manage to research it?” Itori’s eyes widened as Kaneki laid down an envelope on the bar counter.

“Can’t say. But I want to know as much as possible about Doctor Kanou from you for this list.”

“I see. You really appreciate the value of information, don’t you Kaneki-kun?”

“Yeah. You know, any trivial information about him can be valuable.”

“Damn, why do you still care about that guy Kaneki?” Reila cut in.

“I want to know more. What happened to you Rei-chan? As I remember you wanted to know the truth as well.”

“Yeah, but I realized that we were turned into ghouls and nobody and nothing can change that fact, so what’s the point?” she said before taking a sip.

“All I can say about Kanou is that he was an autopsy doctor for the CCG.” uttered Itori. Kaneki was listening closely while Reila spitted out her drink hearing these words.

“He was what?!” she exclaimed with shock.

“He worked for CCG for a long time and after retirement he took over his father’s hospital,” Itori added.

“That explains his expertise in operation on ghouls. He has tools and skills to do that. But what for?” Kaneki wondered.

“I don’t know that Kaneki-kun.”

“Anyway, that was a good information, thank you Itori-san,” Kaneki handed her the envelope with the list. She took out a piece of paper from it.

“Huh, that’s an interesting line-up… Shachi from the 6th ward, and here’s a clown too…”

“A clown?” a familiar male voice asked behind the toilet’s door. “Fufu, is that Kaneki-kun?” the owner of that voice showed himself. It was Nico. Kaneki froze.

“Uh, you took forever!” complained Itori.

Nico ignored her words, “You’re so sweet as always Kaneki-kun!”

Kaneki immediately jumped from his seat, “Nico of Aogiri,” he hissed.

“Long time no see!”

“Rei-chan did you know about him?”

“Yeah, geez Kaneki, relax a little bit.”

“Exactly, do as the lady says! I’m not a member of Aogiri Tree anymore.”

“But… how…”

“It’s simple, I was there only for Yamori… and now when he’s gone…” Nico covered his face with a hand a took a deep sigh. “I’m not interested in their goals anymore. And since their stronghold was destroyed by Doves I’m running free,” he hugged Itori from behind, “So I came to visit my old friend.”

Kaneki was still standing in front of him in disbelief, ready to fight.

“You still don’t believe me huh? Ok, what about telling you a little bit more about Aogiri? Their leader is a one-eyed king and most of the members are from the underground of 24th ward. It is possible that their leader came from it as well. And the team from 11th ward was used only to lure Doves into their stronghold when the other team attacked the Ghoul Detention Center. But the stronghold was discovered a little bit earlier that it was planned so the plan had to be accelerated…”

“And what about Kanou and Rize? Why they are so important to them?”

“I don’t know exactly, but Yamori said something that catching them alive would become a great key to Aogiri’s goal.”

“What is… their goal?”

“Hmm, in Tatara’s words it was… to uncover the liars? However, I have no idea what it means. I hope you believe me more now. I just really don’t want to be your enemy Kaneki.”

“Um, since Itori and Reila trust you, I think I have no other choice.”

“Good,” Nico smiled, “I have to get going now, but I hope to see you soon!”

“You know Kaneki, you should take this story with a grain of salt,” implored Itori when Nico left.

“No, that was really helpful. Now I know that I have to talk to Kanou.”

“Yea, I was talking about that since the beginning but nobody listened to me,” mumbled tipsy Reila.

“Rei-chan if you are interested, you can help me...”

“Fuck you Kaneki-kun! Fuck you and your eye-patch! You wanted to do it on your own, you left Anteiku so deal with it on your own with this crazy French guy and this fearful gorilla! I’m not interested anymore!” saying that she grabbed her purse and headed towards the door. “Goodnight!” she shouted and slammed the door.

 

* * *

 

A loud female’s cry leaded Reila into an empty alley. She put her mask on, just in case. She was really upset by meeting with Kaneki and was ready to fight. As she expected, the source of that scream was a young woman attacked by a ghoul. She wasn’t dead yet, the ghoul was playing with her, cutting her skin with his kagune.

“Oi shithead!” Reila exclaimed. “Don’t play with your food!”

The ghoul turned around to her and attacked woman seemed to be even more scared.

“Who the fuck are you? This is not your hunting territory,” the ghoul said with unpleasant voice.

“Apparently I’m a Nurse. And I help people,” replied Reila as she activated her kagune. “Run,” she said to the woman who was too terrified to move. Reila shoved surprised ghoul with her kagune far away from his victim and repeated, “Run for fuck’s sake!”

This time it worked and woman ran away. Reila needed only few minutes to kill the ghoul. Tonight’s supper will be a real feast, she thought.

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wasn't edited by anyone except me so I'm sorry for eventual mistakes. I haven't updated for a long time so I finally wanted to share this with you! It contains big plot twist so either you love or hate it (I'm awful, I know)

Reila was waiting for Uta who was making coffee in the kitchen. To kill the time she looked through his sketches when she noticed a single hairpin in a shape of a frog, lying on the desk. It looked somehow familiar despite the fact that it wasn’t hers, nor Uta’s.

“Here it is!” Uta entered the room, “Maybe it’s not so good as yours, but still…” he put down two cups on the desk.

“I’m not so good at brewing coffee as you think.”

“Nah, after working so long at Anteiku I’m sure you’re better than me.”

“What’s that?” Reila inquired, ignoring the small talk about coffee.

“Huh? That’s a hairpin,” Uta blinked.

“Yea, I can see that. The question is what is it doing in your room and who did leave it here?”

“I don’t know, a customer must have left it in a studio and I took it here so that it wouldn’t disturb me in my workplace. When someone will ask for it, I bring it to them. My apartment isn’t so far away from the studio as you wouldn’t know.”

“K, you don’t have to be so picky.”

“I have to if you are suspicious about so trivial things,” he leaned to kiss her forehead. “Just relax Sunshine.”

Reila smiled faintly but the moment when he wasn’t looking at her she quickly hid the pin in her jeans’ pocket. She remembered where she had seen it. The person who wore the same pins was her newest co-worker.

* * *

 

The doorbell rang and to Anteiku stepped two men: one was tall and muscular with black short hair and well-trimmed beard, while the second one looked like a kid: small and thin, dressed in weird clothes and with a mass of white hair.

“Oh, this place is nice and elegant,” stated the first one.

“Yea, it smells good,” added the second one.

“That’s the place where Kaneki Ken worked,” said the bigger man while they were taking seats. Reila immediately recognized the investigator who she had met during Aogiri Raid. She rushed to service them. She had to know what they were doing here.

“Welcome to Anteiku! I’m Reila, what can I get for you?” she grinned.

“Coffee please,” said the bigger man. “What about you Juuzou?”

“Umm, cocoa please,” he replied staring at her with his big crimson eyes.

 _So his name is Juuzou… and uh, these eyes… she thought._ “Be right back!” she said loudly and sent them a wide smile. Professionalism at first place. After that she brought them drinks, she distanced away to the bar counter but in a fact she was trying to listen closely about what they were talking about. She could hear that they were discussing the programme about the ghouls which was currently aired on the television screen and the case of Binge Eater.

Roma asked Yoshimura shyly: “Are these guys…?”

“Yes, they’re ghoul investigators,” Yoshimura answered her calmly.

“What’s wrong Roma? You look really pale. Maybe you should take a break?” suggested Reila.

“Yea, that’s a good idea. I’ll be upstairs,” she informed them and walked away.

What’s wrong with this girl? _Is she afraid of investigators so much?_ , Reila thought.

Finally, the black-haired man beckoned Reila over. She approached to their table.

“Excuse me, I’d like to another cup of coffee.”

“And another cocoa for me! And, oh, I’d also like the mixed sandwich set,” asked Juuzou.

“Order taken,” she smiled as she was taking away empty glasses.

“Also miss Reila, there’s something I’d like to ask you,” the man uttered.

“I’m listening.”

“Do you know a young man named Kaneki Ken who has worked here before?”

“Yes, he worked here a little while.”

“Doesn’t he work here now?”

“No. Does he have problems?”

“No, we just investigate a little,” the man showed her his license. Reila could read that his name was Yukinori Shinohara. He was a ghoul investigator as well.

“So you don’t know about his whereabouts?” inquired Shinohara.

“No sir, I’m sorry but I can’t help you.”

“Just one more question: when did he start working here?”

“I don’t know, he started working here before me.”

“And when did he stopped coming here?”

“Around December. He left without a word…” Reila switched her look from Shinohara to Juuzou and caught him staring at her.

“Haven’t we met before?” Juuzou suddenly asked.

“Um, I don’t think so. I’d remember you, your style is… unusual,” she spoke back but they were still gazing at each other until Yoshimura step in: “Here’s your order,” he lied two glasses and a plate down on the table. “Kaneki-kun was a good kid and talented student. Have you contacted with his university?” he added.

“Yes,” Shinohara replied.

“So I don’t know how can we help you more.”

“You can tell if you had noticed anything weird about him.”

“He was a victim of an accident and he was after transplantation surgery. He had to take immunosuppressant medication even at work. But he tried to be a normal youngster, he mentioned that he wanted to go somewhere else, but he didn’t precise where,” said Yoshimura.

“I see,” Shinohara ended drinking his coffee. “Thank you, it was delicious. We’ll come here again.”

“Definitely! Goodbye sir! Goodbye Miss Reila!” added Juuzou, waving them goodbye.

* * *

 

Roma and Reila were changing up after finishing the work while Reila handed her the hairpin, “I think you’ve lost it.”

“Oh thank you Rei-chan! Did I drop it here? I didn’t notice!” Roma was happy to see her lost object.

“Actually, I found it at my boyfriend’s apartment.”

“What? How is it possible?” Roma asked and Reila started wondering if this girl was really so stupid or she was just playing one.

“Roma please, don’t you lie to me. Do you know Uta?”

“Oh, Uta-san! Yes, I know him, he’s a mask-maker, every ghoul knows him.”

“But do you know him, more than that?” Reila was really afraid of the answer on this question but she had to state it. Roma’s face was still, she didn’t know what to say. Suddenly, she burst out laughing.

“You don’t know anything, do you?”

“About what?” Reila frowned her eyebrows. Firstly she was mad but now she was really confused.

“Listen, it’s not my duty to tell you about that. Just ask Uta about the Clowns. I really should get going now, I’m in a hurry,” she slammed the locker’s door and literally run to the exit. Reila decided to go straight to HySy.

* * *

 

When she entered the studio, Uta was busy making a mask.

“I’ve spoken to Roma. We need to talk…” she said faintly.

Uta lifted his head up from his design and by looking at her he assumed it was something serious. Without a word he approached the door and closed it.

“I think studio is closed for today,” he said calmly with no emotion on his face. “What that idiot told you?” he asked.

“She didn’t want to tell me anything more than that I should ask you about the Clowns.”

“Shit, I knew that this girl can’t keep her mouth shut.”

“So, now you don’t deny that you know her…”

“I think there’s no point anymore.”

“Uta, what the fuck has happened? I thought that we have a sincere relationship…” Reila’s voice trembled and she was close to burst into tears. All her recently gained confidence disappeared.

“I thought that if you knew about it, you wouldn’t want to stick with me…”

“Haven’t I told you that the worst truth is better than the best lie?” she asked as the tears run over her face. She was so angry with herself that she cried at this moment but she couldn’t help it.

“Ok, since you want to know the truth… The Clowns are the ghouls organization…”

“Something like Aogiri Tree?”

“Yea, something like that.”

“Ok, that’s not so bad…”

“Wait, I haven’t told you everything yet. I’m one of the Clowns so are Roma, Itori, Nico and some other guys.”

Reila’s eyed widened, “Ok, and what are you guys doing?”

“We just… entertain ourselves… in not so conventional way.”

“Like what? Spying on Anteiku?!”

“No, it’s not how it looks like…”

“So, TELL ME what THE HELL you’re up to?!” now Reila was literally shouting, her right eye turned black and red. Then she started to solve the pieces of puzzle.

Nico. Kaneki. Kidnapping of Kaneki. Tortues of Kaneki. Anteiku goes to save him. Uta - _I won’t leave you (actually I have to have everything under control.)_

Itori. Kaneki. The Ghoul Restaurant. Kaneki almost died.

Itori. Kaneki. Rize. Itori - _that was not an accident, someone did it on purpose._ But who? A clown? Which one?

“Fuck, that was you! You stay behind all this! Did you kill Rize?”

“Oh, you’ve finally done your homework. Good girl. It wasn’t me personally, but yeah, one of the clowns did it. You don’t know him…” he slowly approached to Reila.

“Stay away! I, I can’t believe it. I trusted you for all this time…”

“Rize killed too many people just for fun. Because of her the investigators started to be more active. Someone had to stop her, can’t you understand this?”

“Yea, but because of that Kaneki and I, we are what we are…”

Uta was coming closer and closer despite Reila’s warning.

“I told you not to come closer!” Reila yelled at him as black threads of RC cells materialized into a long tail at the bottom of her back. She kneeled on the floor and her body arched when another kagune started to materialize from her shoulder blades area. It was in a shape of two small black jagged wings. She couldn’t control that, all that time she was screaming curse words and cry.

“How many ghouls have you eaten Reila?” asked Uta calmly.

“A dozen? Maybe more? I don’t know…”

“I see… you know, another kagune doesn’t grow up just like that. And you dare to call us the monsters?”

“Shut up!” she curled her bikaku around him and threw him on the wall. The sound of crushed bones can be heard. All mask which were hanging there fell down. “All in all it’s because of your stupid group I am what I am. Was I a part in your stupid plan? Was I your another toy? Did you play well when you were touching me?” all the time she was talking she cut Uta’s body mindlessly and he didn’t even defense himself.

“We can’t control everything what Kanou does…” Uta paused.

“Is it all you have to say?” she walked towards him and squatted in front of him.

“I really… loved you Rei-chan,” he smiled faintly and touched her cheek with his hand. He was all covered in blood, Reila couldn’t believe what she had done to him. And that he finally said these magic words. After all this time. Was it his another bluff? Did she feel the same? She couldn’t say. She couldn’t live in such uncertainty. That’s why she said: “Sorry, but I can’t live this way anymore. I won’t tell anybody about this clown stuff because of everything… we’ve been through. But I don’t want to see you…. ever again,” she stood up and left the studio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think guys? Also, there will be more Juuzou in next one!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I promised, more Juuzou in this one (and it stays like that til the end of a story I guess). I didn't know that I enjoy writing about him so much and I hope that you'll enjoy reading it!

A few days have passed and Reila was trying to move on. Uta didn’t make an attempt to contact her so she stayed quiet about this clown case. She barely spoke with Roma and when she did, it was only about work stuff. They both pretended that nothing had happened. However, Reila could see Roma’s scornful look. Luckily for her, Roma was coming to work more rarely than before. She was explaining herself by a lot of studying.

Reila started to believe that someday she will recover from it but then the reality struck her. Actually what really struck her was a sweet smell which she already knew so well. The doorbell rang and Juuzou stepped into Anteiku. Stressed Reila approached to service him, her hands shaking and a fake smile on her face.

“Hello, can I help you?”

“Oh hello Miss Reila! I’d like to order the same as the last time.”

“Ok. Where’s your partner?” she tried to start a casual conversation.

“This time I came privately because I really liked this cafe,” Juuzou smiled widely.

“I see. So cocoa and sandwiches, right up.”

When she brought his order, Juuzou asked: “Could you accompany me? That would be great.”

Reila looked around, there weren’t many customers at the cafe and she was not alone because Nishki worked today as well: “Yea, why not?” she sat on a chair opposite Juuzou.

“Are those stitches?” she inquired pointing at his arm.

“Yea, my friend learnt me how do make them.”

“They are very interesting.”

“Thank you,” Juuzou grinned. He looked like he was really happy that someone appreciated his body modifications. “Usually people don’t like it.”

“Yea, usually people don’t like when someone looks...” Reila was searching for a right word, “different.” she finished. “So how is it possible that you became an investigator at such a young age if I may ask?” she stated an another question.

“Actually, I’m not so young, I’m 19!”

“That still less than me,” Reila giggled.

“Is that so? You don’t look so old! How old are you?”

“Don’t you know that it is impolite to ask a lady about her age?” replied Reila with a mischievous smile.

“Oh, that’s right! Sorry about that Miss! Anyway, I was raised at CCG orphanage and I graduated from their academy.”

“Oh, so you’re an orphan… did ghouls… kill your parents?”

“No… I don’t know my real parents. But… my mama lives somewhere. I was taken from her,” Juuzou gazed mindlessly in the space in front of him. _A human raised by a ghoul? Is it even possible?_ , wondered Reila but she didn’t want to ask any inept questions.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be!” Juuzou suddenly cheered up. “People come and go, right?”

“Right,” nodded Reila, thinking about Uta.

“And what about you Miss? Do you enjoy working here?”

“Oh yes! I always dreamed about living in Tokyo. I come from a small town nearby Tokyo and my family still live there but I always wanted to live in a big city. And here I am brewing coffee. But it’s better than nothing, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Rei-chan!” Nishki hissed behind the bar counter. “We have other customers you know?” he frowned his eyebrows.

“Don’t frown so much Nishki-kun, you will get many wrinkles you know?” Reila joked. Juuzou giggled.

“You think you’re so smart? Better help me with the customers,” he said but Reila didn’t move from her place. “Please,” added Nishki and then Reila stood up.

“I’m sorry, I have to go back to work,” she excused.

“No problem,” Juuzou sent her a bright smile.

“Could you bring more sugar from the storage room? I’m busy with these orders,” asked Nishki.

“Ok,” she went to the storage room. When she came back, there was no sign of Juuzou at the cafe. She approached to the table where he had been sitting to clean it up and she noticed a short message on a napkin, written with an illiterate handwriting:

_Dear Miss Reila_

_zoo_

_tomorrow_

_5pm_

_we can talk more_

She quickly sweeped it and hid it in the pocket of her skirt. _What are you planning Juuzou?_

 

* * *

 

“Juuzou-kun, aren’t you tired yet?” asked Shinohara. Juuzou was sitting in a front of computer screen at CCG headquarters after the working hours. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Ah, a little bit of research!” Juuzou answered to his partner.

“I see. Ok, I’m going home, my family is waiting for me.”

“Mmmh,” Juuzou murmured, busy with searching of data that he needed.

“Do you want to visit me? My wife prepared a delicious dinner,” proposed Shinohara.

“Nah, I’m not hungry. Plus I want to finish it tonight.”

“If you say so. Just don’t overwork yourself, ok?”

“Yes, sir!”

Shinohara left the office and Juuzou still searched for data. Finally, he could sum up what he had found.

“Reila Suzuki, 22, graduated a nursing course at university in Tokyo, worked as a scrub nurse at Kanou Hospital, assisted at Kaneki Ken’s operation, dismissed from that place last year because of downsizing…” Juuzou read. “Is that so? And why didn’t you tell me about this part of your life Miss?” he asked himself.

 

* * *

 

Reila spotted Juuzou nearby giraffes. He was sitting there with a sketchbook and a pencil and was making messy drawing of animals. She came towards him and greeted him: “Hello Juuzou-kun!”

“Ah, Miss Reila! Hello!” he stopped sketching when he saw her.

“You don’t have to call me so official, I’m not so much older than you. Just call me Rei please.”

“Um, ok,” Juuzou paused and they both were silent for a while. “You see, I was called Rei when I was younger too,” finally said Juuzou.

“Oh really? It appears that we have something in common,” Reila grinned and then she asked, “What are you drawing there?”

“Giraffes,” Juuzou showed her his ‘masterpiece’. _He isn’t talented in drawing like Uta, that’s for sure,_ thought Reila. Why am I comparing him with Uta anyway?

“They’re beautiful,” she told a little white lie.

“Oh really? Thank you!” his face beamed. _It’s amazing how easy is to make him happy. A little compliment is enough,_ wondered Reila.

“But I think I’m better at making stitches. And since you told me you like them I thought I can make you one,” he put out a needle and threads from his pocket.

In Reila’s head, a red alert turned on immediately. This guy is an investigator. What if it was a kind of test? If it was a regular needle, it wouldn’t pierce through her skin. But he was a Dove so he had an access to the stuff made from quinque steel and this needle could be one of them. In that case it could pierce her skin easily. She couldn’t risk it.

“It’s nice of you, but saying that I like them, I meant that I like them on you, they really suit you. At this moment I don’t want to modificate my body in any way. But if I change my mind, I’ll let you know.”

“Ok!” Juuzou grinned, he didn’t seem to be offended any way.

“Generally, what’s the reason you invited me here by leaving a note at cafe?” Reila inquired.

“I don’t have many friends except investigators and I thought we could befriend since you’re a really nice person Rei-chan,” Juuzou blushed.

“Oh.”

“Of course if you don’t mind…”

“Not at all! To be honest I don’t have many friends too.”

“How is it possible?”

“I think it’s because people come and go as you said earlier at cafe. But we didn’t come here to complain, did we?”

“Of course not! So I’d like to share a chocolate bar with my new friend!” Juuzou put out of the pocket two chocolate bars.

Was it an another test? Because the previous one failed? What should she do now? Refuse to eat it? Tell that she has an allergy? She could eat it, Yoshimura learnt her how to eat human food, she just has to swallow whole bites and pretend that she’s chewing them and then she has to quickly to go to a toilet and throw it up. But she didn’t know if she manages to do it, all in all she never did it seriously, in front of the other people. Finally, she decided to the last option.

“Oh, thank you!” Juuzou handed her the bar and she opened it. An idea of putting it into her mouth made her vomit but she tried not to make weird faces. She did all like Yoshimura said, despite the fact that chocolate tasted like it was past the expiration date. During eating they were chatting and except an awful taste in a mouth Reila felt as if they were a couple of normal youngsters, spending their free afternoon at the zoo talking and eating sweets. She felt just normal for the very first time since she had become a ghoul.

 

* * *

 

“Here, drink it,” Touka handed a bottle of water to Reila. They were both sitting on the bathroom’s floor in Reila’s apartment.

“Thank you,” Reila said faintly.

“Did you really have to eat it?” Touka asked.

“Yes. In other case he would suspect me more,” explained Reila. The previous day she didn’t manage to throw up the food before it started to digest and today she was paying for it. Luckily, it was her free day and Touka had some spare time as well so when Reila had called her she came to support her.

“Ugh, these Doves got on my nerves recently. Firstly, they ask about Kaneki, then you… Generally I think you shouldn’t have socialize with… what’s his name… with that investigator so much.”

Reila took a big sip of water, then said: “Juuzou. His name is Juuzou.”

“Nevermind.”

“And I met with him only because to get some information. Maybe I’ll learn from him what they are planning.”

“Yea, whatever.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Rei-chan, we know each other not from today. Your eyes flicker the same as when you got crush on Uta. They flicker… even more. This wouldn’t end up well…”

“Please be quiet Touka-chan. I’m suffering enough and I don’t want to listen your theories. But according to Uta… you were right. He is a douchebag.”

Touka smiled friendly: “Is it a reason why did you break up with him? You didn’t say me anything about it.”

“That’s because I don’t want to talk about it. Not yet. But mostly, yea that’s why... Oh no, here it comes again…” Reila leaned towards toilet and Touka grabbed her hair and rubbed her friend’s back gently.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that feedback is always welcome! And visit and follow my tumblr to more awesome Tokyo Ghoul stuff!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a late update but my real life keeps me busy recently so I don't have much time for writing and even when I have it, I'm too tired for that... But I really like to finish this story and the planned end is near so please be patient!

“Rei-chan!” Juuzou’s scream could be heard from a distance. A young investigator ran towards her and threw himself to give her a greeting hug. An impact of his jump was so huge that Reila lost her balance and fell on her back. In a result, she was lying on the ground with Juuzou on the top of her, his face close to hers. Too close. Their noses were almost touching each other and Reila could bite him easily if she wanted. Actually she wanted to taste him so much but she couldn’t. That would ruin everything. So instead of that, she inquired:

“Um, Juuzou-kun, could you please… get up?”

“Of course!” he answered with a melodic voice, stood up swiftly and helped her to come back to the vertical position.

“Thanks,” she uttered, still holding his hand. “Where are we going today?” she asked.

They met at the park that day. Actually, they have been meeting every day for the past few days and Reila had to admit that she started really enjoying their meetings. She hated herself for that because it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Not much time had passed since her breaking up with Uta, plus she should have no feelings for the investigator who is her natural enemy. He clearly suspected her of being a ghoul, he just hadn’t any evidence for that. At least not yet. Despite all these facts Juuzou really intrigued her in many ways so she couldn’t refuse seeing him.

“Today, I’ll show you my favorite place,” stated Juuzou.

“Ok,” agreed Reila as they set off.

 

* * *

 

“CCG headquarters?” Reila asked rhetorically when they stopped in front of the tall building.

“C’mon Rei-chan, I want to show you something there,” Juuzou insisted as they entered the building. Resigned Reila followed him. _What if it was a kind of a trap?,_ she worried in her mind.

The building was empty inside. Not surprisingly, it was already an evening.

“Are we allowed to be here at such an hour?” she asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry, I’m allowed to be here anytime I want. And you’re my guest,” he ushered her to a gate which looked like a metal detector.

“What’s that?” she inquired, slowing the pace of walking.

“Oh, that’s RC cells gate. It scans people who go through it and reacts when someone has too high level of RC cells so no ghoul can pass it!” explained Juuzou. Reila immediately stopped. If she pass through it, it will surely react. She started thinking about excuses but she couldn’t make up one. She looked around, there was no other way to enter further.

“What’s wrong?” Juuzou turned towards her.

“Um, nothing. I just feel like in a shop when I know that I didn’t steal anything but I’m afraid that a gate at the exit will react.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Juuzou grabbed her arm and dragged towards the gate. His grip was firm and strong. _So now I’m screwed,_ thought Reila.

They passed through the gate and… nothing happened. They both sighed internally. _How is it possible? Is it because I still have human organs?_ Reila wondered but at the same time she was relieved. Juuzou leaded her to an elevator. They went to the highest floor. Going out of the elevator, they went through a corridor when finally Juuzou pushed the double door.

“That’s what I wanted to show you!” they went through the door and found themselves on a rooftop. Juuzou sat on the edge of it and started waving his legs cheerfully.

 _That guy has no fear,_ thought Reila as she admired the beautiful sunset over Tokyo. The panorama was really breathtaking, not surprisingly Juuzou liked spending his free time here so much.

“What’s up? Are you afraid of height?”

“No,” she answered shortly. In fact she was, but she didn’t want him to know any of her weaknesses so she slowly walked toward him and took a seat next to him. Her mind was buzzing but she tried to calm herself down.

“Tomorrow I have a big action at Kanou’s Lab,” Juuzou confessed as if he talked about what he will have for breakfast. Then he reflected, “Oh, I shouldn’t have told you such things,” he said covering his mouth with both hands. “It’s top secret or something… but I’m so excited about it!”

“Don’t you worry, the name of this mission doesn’t say anything to me,” she assured him while in a fact it was completely opposite. “Aren’t you scared? I bet all your missions must be highly dangerous.”

“Scared of what?”

“Of death.”

“Nah, it doesn’t make a difference if I’m dead or alive.”

 _What’s wrong with him? Isn’t he afraid of anything? Doesn’t he have any weak points?_ she thought and she said loudly: “It makes a difference for me…” as she placed her hand on his. They gazed at each other without a word for a while until Juuzou said: “Don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine,” he grinned, intertwining his fingers with hers. Then they both stared at sunset.

“Rei-chan?” Juuzou finally broke the silence.

“Huh?”

“I’d like this moment never ends.”

“Me too Juuzou, me too.”

 

* * *

 

When it started getting darker and colder, Reila began to tremble.

“We better go inside,” Juuzou proposed and the girl agreed. She followed him to the office. “That’s my workplace!” he showed her one of the numerous desks in a room. “Wait here and I’ll get some hot beverages and sweets from the vending machine,” he went out on a corridor. Reila looked around. Juuzou’s desk was in a complete mess: there were documents and empty wrappings after sweets everywhere. She knew that she shouldn’t do it but she opened the nearest file and looked through the papers in it. They were all about tomorrow’s raid. _Did he leave it here on purpose?,_ Reila wondered at the same time remembering the address and plan of Kanou’s laboratory. With her excellent visual memory it wasn’t difficult. She quickly closed the file when she heard approaching footsteps. She thought it was Juuzou but instead of him she saw the unfamiliar young man.

“Who are you?” the man asked suspiciously. Reila’s lips parted to answer however she didn’t know what to say. Luckily, at the same time Juuzou entered the room, carrying two cups of hot coffee and a pack of gummy bears.

“Ah Rank 2 Takizawa, don’t you worry, that’s my friend, Rei-chan!”

“Rank 2 Juuzou, don’t you know that strangers aren’t allowed to stay in this part of the building?” while Takizawa was speaking, Juuzou handed Reila coffee.

“Why do you always have to be so serious?” Juuzou opened the pack of gummy bears, “Relax a little bit,” and he threw one gummy bear towards Takizawa, hitting him right in his forehead. The man sent him a cold look.

“Someone had to respect the rules. By the way you picked up a very strange place for a date.”

Hearing these words, Reila spit out her coffee. “We, we’re not…” she stammered but Juuzou was faster and threw his arm around her shoulders and said: “At least, I have a date! C’mon we find a better place!” he saw Reila off the room. “Haha, his face was priceless!” Juuzou laughed as they went out of the building. Reila was so confused so she just smiled faintly.

“So it was only a joke?” she asked to make sure.

“Yea, I love pissing off this dork!”

“I see…” she sighed, taking a last sip of coffee and throwing out a paper cup to a litter basket. “Thanks for a wonderful evening Juuzou,” she hugged him and walked away.

“Wait, Rei-chan, I’ll see you off!”

“You don’t have to!” she shouted back to him, distancing away quickly. _I’m so stupid!_ she thought, feeling her eyes are getting more and more wet.

 _Have I done something wrong?_ wondered Juuzou seeing her off with his sight.

 

* * *

 

Next day Reila set off to Kanou’s Lab. She wanted to be there before the investigators. When she reached the place, she put on a grey cloak and her mask. The whole place was enormous and was kept under the big house but she rushed directly to the main lab. With her above average sensing abilities it was more than easy and soon she found herself in a spacious room, with the two rows of the capsules. On one side there were captivated ghouls, naked and immobile, with their kakugans active. They were the donors of humans who lied in capsules opposite to them and most of them didn’t even look like humans, nor ghouls. They looked like monsters from a bad horror movie. Reila peered at them carefully. _I wonder who of them I received organs from… and if something went wrong during an operation, I would lie here today… that’s awful._

Except her and the Doctor there was also Kaneki. Not paying attention to his former friend, Reila jumped on the platform where Kanou was standing.

“Hello Doctor! Do you remember me?” she greeted him.

“Miss Suzuki, huh? Of course I do remember you! My another successful experiment!”

“Good,” she activated her bikaku, “but I’d rather not be called an EXPERIMENT,” she rolled her kagune around him so that he couldn’t move. Then, she slowly approached him and put a scalpel against his throat. A cold blade was almost cutting through his skin.

“Rei-chan don’t!” Kaneki screamed from the bottom.

“Shut up fucking Eye-patch! I let you did it your way, now let me do it my way!”

“Rei-chan please, I haven’t finished talking with him yet!” Kaneki begged, but she didn’t listen to him.

“Such a shame… you know that I dreamed about this moment… that I will finally take revenge… but you know what Doc? I quite enjoy being a ghoul now. I have a power. A power that I didn’t have when I was a human. Now I can kill these monsters and save people. That’s my mission now and I’ll do it til I die. However, it doesn’t change the fact that I will forgive you. Because I will never forgive you.” she loosed her tight hold and jumped over Kaneki.

“Here, do it on your own. But be careful because doves are coming,” she warned him and she ran away.

“Rei-chan wait!” he shouted after her but she was already gone.

 

* * *

 

Reila strained her smell to find where Juuzou was. She ran through corridors until she found him. He was fighting with two, unfamiliar to her, female half- ghouls. She knew it because girls had only one kakugan activated. Furthermore, they were probably twins because they were almost identical despite the fact that one of them had black hair and clothes while the other one was all dressed in white. They must have been another Kanou’s experiments.

“This is fun, isn’t it? It’s almost like a class reunion,” Juuzou was giggling.

 _Huh, does he know these girls?_ Reila asked herself but for now she decided to stay hidden.

“I just don’t understand why you are ghouls,” Juuzou continued.

“We left our humanity behind,” stated one of them.

“Yea, we’re no longer interested in the distorted world,” added the second one.

The girls outnumbered but Juuzou was quite fast, he had a chance to defeat them both. Reila actually admired his speediness and strength. However, he stopped for a while and demanded: “Show me your stomachs!”

The sisters only spitted and said: “The one who will get hurt in a stomach is you.”

That moment Reila run out of her hideout was too late. Juuzou’s stomach was already cut and his white shirt was covered in a crimson stain.

“Whops, it seems that I was torn up,” he said, dropping his quinque and bending over.

“Don’t think badly of us Rei,” saying that, sisters rushed over him to finish him off.

“Same here,” he grunted, throwing one of his switchblades, “don’t think badly of me.” The quinque hit Kurona’s eye.

“Kuro!” her sister shouted at her.

“It’s fine Nashiro, it will heal,” she replied, pulling out the switchblade.

“Are you sure you will make it in time?” Juuzou asked with a cheerful voice, exposing more of the switchblades that were attached to the inner side of his shirt and attacking Kuro.

“You fucking bitches!” Reila ran towards Nashiro and cut deep through her chest and stomach with her kagune while Juuzou was fighting with Kurona. Soon both sisters were kneeling on the floor and bleeding out. Kurona who was in a better condition, crawled towards her sister, screaming her name as they held their hands together. Meanwhile Juuzou grabbed his scythe and walked towards them laughing evilly.

“I was always wondering what feels a twin when the other one is dying…”

Kurona quickly calculated that she had no chance in further fighting so she grabbed her sister and ran away claiming: “Papa can save us, I need to find him...”

When twins were lost out of their eyesight, Juuzou welcomed Reila with a smile:

“Huh… oh Nurse, we meet again. I’m sorry but I need to fix something,” he said taking out a needle and threads from his pocket. Then he started sewing the cut on his stomach. Reila looked at it and at the first sight she was able to say that it needed a professional sewing. She grabbed his arm and whisked the needle from his hand. She continued sewing by herself. Juuzou was in a deep shock so he let her to do it.

“Nurse, why do you always help me?” he inquired but she didn’t answer. “You’re not very talkative, huh?” he added.

“Um, no,” she murmured through her mask. She couldn’t talk much and let be recognized by her voice.

When she finished putting stitches on Juuzou’s stomach he uttered:

“Thank you but next time we meet, I’ll kill you. It’s nothing personal but you’re a ghoul and I’m investigator.”

Hearing this she wanted to tear off her mask, screaming: _No Juuzou, I’m not a fucking ghoul, I’m a human turned into ghoul and I hate them as much as you. I’m Reila Suzuki, your friend not just another piece of flesh!_ but all she uttered was a loud grunt, then she ran away.

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, it's been awhile since the last time I updated this but here I am! To anyone who has been waiting for a new chapter (if there are any people like that) thank you for your patience so much!!! I'm so sorry for such a long break but I was overwhelmed by real life (actually still I am but I managed to do some writing during Christmas break so yay!) It's pretty short chapter with some drama (cause I'm drama queen) and hardcore fluff (if only there's such thing) but I hope you'll like it!

“Juuzou, you’re a good dancer!” Reila shouted to be heard through the loud music.

“Thank you Rei-chan,” he shouted back. He was really relieved that there was dark in a club so she couldn’t see him getting flush on his cheeks. “Actually I’m a little bit tired, can we sit down?” he asked.

“Yea, why not,” Reila replied, “I got thirsty,” she added heading towards the bar tender. “One mojito and one juice please,” she ordered. As soon as she got the drinks she implied: “Let’s sit down in less crowded place.” They found a free table and collapsed on a small sofa next to it. “Here you are, since you’re so young that you aren’t allowed to drink alcohol yet,” she passed him a glass with juice, sticking her tongue out.

“Yea, I’m young and you are old,” Juuzou joked.

“Hey you!” Reila pretended to be mad about that and started tickling him. Juuzou squealed in response but reflected after a second:” Not in a stomach!” and he covered it with his arms.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Reila stopped. She completely forgot about his wound despite the fact she was a witness of making it. “What happened?”

“No, it’s just a small souvenir after the last action,” he answered with a wide smile on his face, tugging his shirt up so that Reila could see it. Not much time passed since that day so Juuzou was still wearing stitches.

“Oh, that must have hurt,” assumed Reila.

“Not at all,” he pulled down his shirt. “I managed to fight with the ghouls who hurt me but they run away. Actually, there was an another ghoul who helped to fight with them. That was pretty strange. And then it was her who put on these stitches so I let her go. I don’t understand it.” Juuzou paused and there fell the moment of silence, until Reila started talking:

“Juuzou, haven’t you thought that not everything is just black and white, sometimes it’s just grey?”

“Huh? What do you mean Rei-chan?”

“I mean that maybe not every ghoul is bad. Maybe there are good ones. The same thing is with the humans.”

“No, I haven’t thought this way. I’m a ghoul investigator and they are ghouls so it is my job to kill them. Why are you saying such things, have you met a ghoul who is good?”

 _Yea, I met a lot of them,_ thought Reila but she didn’t say it aloud. Instead of that she lied: “No, but this one about whom you were talking about, she saved your life, how could she be bad?”

“Ah, the Nurse? Actually it was not the first time I met her. I don’t know what to think about her honestly.”

“The Nurse?” Reila continued subject, cringing inside.

“Yea, because she has a mask like a nurse. So that’s why we call her like that at CCG.”

 _So all CCG know about me. Great,_ thought Reila, taking a sip of her drink. “I see,” she said. “And how’s your partner?” she asked to change a subject.

“He’s not so well, he is at hospital,” replied the young investigator.

“Oh, have you visited him?”

“N-no, I know about this from my colleague.”

“That’s not nice of you Juuzou. You should totally visit him. Isn’t he like a father to you?”

Juuzou silenced. Finally he said: “Does it make any difference if I visit him or not?”

“Yeah, he will be pleased. If you were at hospital, you would like someone to visit you, wouldn’t you?”

Juuzou cringed and said nothing, drinking his juice and observing a couple that was sitting at nearby table.

“I see that you don’t like talking about such subjects. Ok, we could not talk about. Just let you know that escaping from your problems isn’t a solution,” she stopped talking when she noticed a single tear on Juuzou’s cheek. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t want to make you cry!” she put her hand on his cheek and wiped the tear with her thumb.

“Re-Rei-chan?” Juuzou asked.

“Yes?”

“Co- could you teach me how to kiss?”

“Whaaa-?!” Reila leaned back immediately. Then she giggled.“Juuzou-kun, kissing is not a thing that you can be taught… When you kiss a person who you like it just happens…” she stammered.

“Oh…” the boy seemed to be really disappointed. Reila hesitated for a while.

“K, I’m going do it and not because you’re asking me but because I want to,” she decided as she cupped his face and gently pressed her lips against his. His mouth was so soft and sweet that she wanted more, so she didn’t stop it until they ran out of breath.

“You are a very good kisser, you don’t need any lessons,” stated Reila.

“Um, that was… wet. But nice.” Juuzou summed up and Reila giggled. “We should do it more often,” Juuzou smiled shyly.

“Oh, you see that things do people who… love each other…”

“And how can I know that I love someone?” asked Juuzou without hesitation.

“Hmm, it’s when you want to feel them the best. And when you spend a lot of time with them. And you talk a lot. But even when you finally stop talking and just sit quietly, it doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable…”

“I see,” Juuzou nodded and they both fell silent for a while. But none of them feel uncomfortable. Finally, Juuzou spoke:

“Sooo, I think I can tell that I love you Rei-chan…”

“Juuzou, don’t say such things, we cannot…” Reila didn’t manage to end her sentence because Juuzou sat over her lap and closed her lips with a next kiss. Reila’s mind was really confused, she wanted to kiss him and didn’t want to do it at the same time, just feeling his body so close made her dizzy, his smell, his taste… Yes, his taste it was it, it was so sweet that she needed more, she needed to feel the taste of his blood pumping in his veins… _Do it, just do it_ , whispered the voice in her head, _just one bite… you know you want to do it…_

“No!” she screamed breaking the kiss, Juuzou looked at her, not knowing what happened. “I’ve bitten you, I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“Oh that?” he wiped out the smear of blood running from his lip. “I didn’t even feel it,” he grinned.

“Please, let go off me, I think it’s time to go home,” Reila felt that if it takes any longer, she wouldn’t be able to control herself anymore.

“But you’ve said… that you wanted this…” Juuzou protested.

“Yea, but it’s not good” Reila hissed, pushing him away from her lap on the sofa and standing up. “There are many things that you don’t understand…”

“Then please explain them to me!” Juuzou raised his voice and gazed at her with his big eyes. Reila couldn’t tell him the truth.

“I know that this… we… won’t work out,” she stated.

“How do you know that if we don’t even try?”

She knew it because she knew that he is a ghoul investigator and she is a ghoul, and such relationship is impossible. But she couldn’t tell him that.

Juuzou receiving no answer, burst: “Anyway, that’s nothing new. Nobody loves me. Nobody CAN love me.” Reila just stood there staring at him and not knowing what to say. Now she couldn’t leave him like that, but not because she felt compassion, but because she totally understood him. After leaving Uta she felt the same way.

“Juuzou, It’s not your fault. I- I felt something when we kissed too. I’m just too afraid to trust anyone after my last break-up. That’s it. I barely know that guy and it didn’t end up well. And now I feel that we don’t know each other enough,” she explained, this time being totally honest.

“So let’s know each other better!”

“Dammit, you won’t stop, will you? Anyway, we can talk while you’ll be seeing me off. And better move your ass before I’ll change my mind.” Saying that she proceed too an exit.

* * *

 

Reila’s hands ran all over Juuzou’s body before she started to unbutton his shirt as he was kissing her collarbone. She took off his shirt and tank top and started to undress herself. When she took off her dress, staying only in her panties, Juuzou shyly looked at her.

“I’ve never…” he started but she placed her index finger on his mouth.

“Shh” she hushed him and gave him a deep kiss. They were lying on her bed and making out at least for an hour. She wanted something more. She broke a kiss and ran her tongue down through his throat and chest. She wanted to bite him so much but she refrained from doing that by only tasting his skin. She reminded to herself that he was not just a piece of meat, but all the time somewhere in her head she heard this voice of a monster. After a while she reached his underbelly and tried to unbutton his shorts, but Juuzou firmly grabbed her arms:

“Not yet,” he whispered. That was quite shocking for her. She hasn’t been intimate with many men but no one had refused her before.

“Please.” Juuzou added.

“Ok,” she took off her arms. “We don’t have to do it if don’t want to. Can I at least take a look?” she smiled to him mischievously.

“I’d rather not…”

“You are ashamed! I bet that you have nothing to be ashamed of!” she exclaimed.

“Rei-chan, please stop it! I said not now!” he shouted at her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, you don’t have to yell at me,” she widened her eyes. “If you’re not ready I’ll wait as long as it takes. Just tell when you’re ready, ok?” she hold him tightly and kissed him on a cheek. Juuzou nodded. “Let’s go to sleep then.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That would be all for now, thanks for reading and remember that feedback is always welcome!  
> To be honest I have no idea when I'll able to update this story because in the near future I have to pass a lot of exams. I'll have more free time in February and I hope that I'll manage to end writing this story then, wish me luck!  
> Also, you can always talk to me on tumblr, I'm @gabrysiek91  
> Peace out! x


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, I didn't realized that so much time has passed since I last updated o.O Time flies by so quickly! But here's the longest chapter I've written so far (over 3k words) Sorry for possible mistakes and I hope you enjoy!

 

“Ah, hello Rei–chan!” Roma welcomed Reila as she entered Anteiku. “Where were you when you were needed?” Roma seemed to be more excited than ever.  

“Um, I work at the afternoon shift today, don’t you remember? Why are you so disturbed, what happened?” inquired Reila.

“KANEKI-KUN WAS HERE TODAY!” Roma finally got a load off her mind.

“Seriously? What that dumbass was doing here?”

“I don’t know, he spoke with the manager and then he left, and then Touka-chan came and I told her that Kaneki had been here, so she ran after him and then she came back but she didn’t look happy, she went upstairs straight ahead…”

“Roma calm down for fuck’s sake! I don’t keep up. So all in all you know nothing?” Reila got quickly irritated by Roma’s behavior.

“Yup. And I’m sorry, I really got excited, do you think Kaneki will return to us? I always dreamed about meeting him…”

“I don’t think so. He didn’t leave Anteiku to come back… I think we need to talk to the manager…”

“Talk to me about what?” Reila heard a deep Yoshimura’s voice behind her.

“Manager,” she turned around and asked: “Is it true that Kaneki-kun was here today?”

“Yes, it is,” he answered.

“Oh, I thought that Roma hallucinated…”

“Hey!” Roma hissed.

“And what did he want?” Reila ignored her workmate and continued gaining information from the manager.

“He may return to Anteiku…”

“Ha, I’ve told ya! That’s so cool!” Roma exclaimed as Reila murmured at the same time: “That sucks…”

“How could you say something like that Rei-chan, didn’t you use to be friends?”

“Yup, but the things have changed, we are doing well without him. And it’s a way he chose himself, he decided to leave Anteiku by himself…”

“That’s right, he had to take some time. However, he has learnt everything he wanted to know and now he’s ready to continue living as he used to live. I just let it happen,” explained Yoshimura calmly.

“Bullshit. I’ll better check how’s Touka doing.” Reila went upstairs, taking loud steps.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Reila knocked at the door of Touka’s room. Receiving no response, she asked: “Touka-chan, are you alright?”

“I’m studying!” the girl finally gave a sign of life.

“Oh, that’s good. Do you need some help?”

“No, I’m fine thanks!” Reila heard a loud denial behind the closed door.

“Listen, I know that you’ve met Kaneki today, do you want to talk about it?” Reila didn’t give up.

“I think it’s you who wants to talk about it more but yeah, come in,” Touka invited her in.

“No, I’m not!” Reila raptly denied as she entered Touka’s room. “I don’t care about him but I care about you, how do you feel?” she asked, collapsing on a desk next to which her friend sat.

“Stupid. I feel really, really stupid,” Touka covered her face in her hands.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“I’m back!” Touka entered Anteiku. In the café there was only shaking Roma._

_“Oh, Tou-Touka chan. You just missed him…”_

_“Who?”_

_“Kaneki-kun. He just left…”_

_Touka wasn’t listening to her anymore. She ran out of the café and saw a well-known silhouette at the nearby overpass, so she ran there as fast as she could and soon she met Kaneki in person, the first time after such a long time. She had a complete chaos in her head, she didn’t know how she was supposed to behave. At least Kaneki seemed to be as shocked as her. Finally, it was him who started talking._

_“I’ve spoken with the manager today. He told me his story and he said I can come back to Anteiku.”_

_“Oh,” Touka sighed._

_“But I don’t know if I want this. Touka-chan, are you angry with me?”_

_“For what?”_

_“That I left you. All of you. You see, I just wanted to protect everyone. And I still want to do this. So I don’t know if coming back is a good idea.”_

_“You jerk. How long do you want to continue this? Who do you want to protect? Humans? Ghouls? Who do you want to fight with? Aogiri? CCG? Humans? Ghouls? Let me explain something, it’s an never ending story and we don’t need your protection, we are doing great without you. The only one person who you protect this way is you…”_

_“You think you know me better than myself?”_

_“Shut up!” Touka shouted and tried to punch his face but Kaneki stopped the attack. “You think you’re so great but you’re nothing but trash. We don’t need such trash at Anteiku.” Touka managed to hit him this time and kicked on the other side of the overpass, then she sat on him and punched him in the face numerous times._

_“Why… why… why… have you changed so much? And why do I love you anyway?” she sobbed. Kaneki’s face was covering in his blood but he remained silent. He knew Touka was right, he was a trash. And he hated himself for hurting her feelings so much. After a few more punches Touka simply stood up and walked away. Kaneki lied down for a little while on cold ground and was thinking what to do._

 

* * *

 

 

“Such a shame I wasn’t there to kick his ass,” said Reila, hugging Touka who faintly smiled.

“Yea, that would be cool,” she admitted. “I hope your date went better…”

“Actually yes, we were in the zoo…”

“Again?!”

“What can I say, he likes this place…”

“I see. Thanks for looking after me Rei-chan but I want to be alone now. Furthermore,  shouldn’t you go back to work?”

“Ah, that’s right, take care Touka-chan!” Reila sent her bright smile and her friend sent her a fake smile back.

 

* * *

 

_“Look at my drawing Rei-chan!” Juuzou covered Reila’s sketchbook with his and waited impatiently for her reaction._

_“It’s wonderful Juuzou-kun,” she praised him and grinned._

_“Noooo, your is so much better!” Juuzou pulled away his sketchbook and stared at hers._

_“Juuzou, you don’t have to be perfect at everything you do, you’re better at other things. All in all I like your drawing very much,” she assured him._

_“No, I must be better, otherwise Mama will be angry…” Juuzou broke a pencil in half, staring mindlessly in the space in front of him._

_“Juuzou, your Mama isn’t here, she doesn’t have power over you anymore,” Reila kneeled in front of him, grabbing his wrists and trying to catch his gaze._

_“Ah, that’s right, I’m sorry Rei-chan. Oops, I broke a pencil.”_

_“It’s ok, we have a lot of pencils.” Reila returned to her previous seat next to him. “I was just thinking, you never talk much about your past, maybe if you did it, you’d feel better. Only if you want to of course…” she suggested._

_“I rather not,” he stated and continued doodling in his sketchbook. Doing this, he started talking nevertheless: “Mama, I mean Big Madame… she did awful things to me when I wasn’t good enough. Firstly, I was just doing some acrobatic stuff to entertain other ghouls and then I became a scrapper. After first ‘job’ I threw up for three days and had awful nightmares. Then I started losing value what’s good and what’s wrong, it doesn’t even mattered anymore for me. The only goal was to make Mama and other customers happy…”_

_“Oh dear, that surely was awful.”_

_Juuzou sighed deeply, “Yea, it was. But I feel better now. Talking to someone really helps, thank you Rei-chan.”_

_“You’re welcome, that’s what the friends are for,” she said and put her arm around him._

_“Ah, what a beautiful giraffes,” they heard a deep voice behind them. Juuzou raised his head and Reila turned around to see who praised their drawings._

_“Ah, Shinohara-san!” exclaimed Juuzou. “You’ve finally left hospital!”_

_“That’s right, I’m sorry to interrupt you…”_

_“Actually, I have to get going, I start my work soon!” Reila stood up, grabbing her stuff. “Get some time to talk! Goodbye Mr Shinohara!” she bowed. The man bowed back. “Bye Juuzou!” she waved him goodbye and walked away._

_“You really like this girl, don’t you?” Shinohara asked when Reila was far away not able to hear them._

_“Mhmm…” Juuzou murmured._

_Shinohara smiled faintly, “don’t attach too much kid. We were chosen to take part in extermination of a very important ghoul. The target’s name is Owl and it’s SSS rate ghoul.”_

_“Is it powerful?”_

_“Yes, it is. If we don’t be cautious, we may even die.”_

_“Ah, that’s good. I want to fight with someone powerful…”_

_“Juuzou, didn’t you hear what I have said?”_

_“Huh?”_

_“I’d be sad if you died.”_

_“It doesn’t matter if I live or die…”_

_“Ah yes, you’re always like that. But I wanted you to know that there are people who care more about you than you care about yourself.”_

_“Yea I know, Rei-chan says something like that all the time too. Still, I don’t know why do you do that.”_

_“I believe you’ll understand it someday…” Shinohara smiled._

 

* * *

 

Reila tried to relax after tough day by watching a sci-fi movie that she liked so much, while someone interrupted her by knocking at her door. She got up unwillingly and went slowly to open it.

“Juuzou?” seeing a young investigator at such a late hour in her apartment was quite surprising to her. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to talk. Would you let me in?”

“Yea, of course,” Reila moved to make a room for letting him in and closed the door. “Sooo, what’s going on?”

“Here, it’s my will,” Juuzou handed her a sealed piece of paper. “Soon, a very big action will take place so they made us to write it. But promise me that you’ll read it only when I will be killed,” he demanded.

“Umm, ok, I feel so honored,” Reila hid the piece of paper into a drawer of a dresser.

“There’s one more thing,” Juuzou continued, “promise me, you’ll leave 20th ward, no, you better leave Tokyo for a while,” he said worriedly.

“Why would I do that?”

“I can’t tell.”

“Listen Juuzou, I have friends here, if something is happening I can’t just leave them here and move by myself,” said Reila sharply. She felt a little bit guilty for talking to him in this tone but she didn’t see any other way.

Juuzou stayed silent for a long time, but finally he started talking. “This action… it will be held in 20th ward. To be more precise, our target is Anteiku.”

“What?! Why would CCG do something like that?” Reila inquired with a raised voice.

“We pursue very powerful ghoul known as an Owl and we have an information that he can be connected with the café you’re working at. I’m so sorry…”

_What? Do they have such kind of information because of me? Have I been not careful enough? Because of me Juuzou found out that we are all ghouls there? But wait, he said only about one ghoul…_ Reila was rethinking all her recent actions and conversations with Juuzou.

“It’s not even the kind of information I should tell you, I do it only because of our friendship. Please tell me you’ll leave tomorrow, you have whole day, the action is scheduled a day after that.” It was strange but Juuzou literally begged her to do that.

_Hmm, it doesn’t look like they know that there are more ghouls connected to Anteiku except the Owl. And I still have some time to inform others… just act cool Rei, you can do it!_ Reila cheered herself in her thoughts.

“Ok, I’m just shocked by the news,” she paused. “I’ll go to my parents tomorrow,” she lied with a fake smile on her face.

“Good,” Juuzou sighed.

“Do you have something else to say?” asked Reila when the silence fell.

“Actually yes… can I stay at your place tonight?”

“Yea, of course, you’re always welcomed here,” Reila grinned as Juuzou nonchalantly took off his jacket and placed himself on a couch in front of tv. “Do you want anything to drink or eat?” she inquired. Since they started dating Reila always kept some sweets and snacks for him in a cupboard.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Juuzou refused so she sat next to him. Apparently her guest wasn’t much interested in parallel universes and alien nations because he quickly got bored by the film and focused on her. He placed his arm around her waist and started kissing her neck, going lower and lower; he stopped at the lowest point of her neck and started sucking it, on what Reila immediately reacted: “I’ll have a mark you dork!” she exclaimed and hit him faintly on his shoulder. Juuzou giggled, quite content that he managed to gain her attention.

“Take care of me and you wouldn’t get hurt!”

“You’ll regret asking for this!” Reila pushed him on the couch and sealed her lips with his. Juuzou refused deeper kisses, so they just played by biting and chewing their lips until Reila accidentally placed her hand between his legs.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” she immediately took her hand away.

“No, it’s ok, I don’t mind it,” said Juuzou calmly what surprised her to the great extent because he always panicked when she touched this area so she promised to wait until he’ll be ready for that. “I- I’d really like to do with you stuff that couples usually do when they are together,” he blushed, “I really want to make you feel good, but I just can’t , I’m different down there…”

That was not the explanation she was ready to hear so she just uttered: “Huh?”

“Mama always wanted to have a girl. So she made me into one…”

Reila finally understood: “Oh, so that’s why you were ashamed. And  I was so persuasive, I’m so sorry Juuzou!” she bowed. _That bitch hurt him more than I thought._ “I just want you to know that I love you from your head to toes, you have nothing to be ashamed of because you’re beautiful anyway,” she kissed him on his forehead. “And we don’t have to do anything which will make you uncomfortable,” she assured him.

“But I really want to…”

“Ok, let’s see what we can do then,” Reila smirked and pulled him into a bedroom.

 

* * *

 

Next morning it was Reila who woke up earlier. She didn’t rush to get up or to wake up Juuzou, instead of that she stared at his face carefully, trying to remember as many details as she could. It may have been the last time she sees him, who knows? She knew more about him than he knew about her and not being fully sincere with him made her feel very guilty, but at the same time she was convinced that it was better off this way. After some time she noticed that Juuzou started to open his eyes.

“Hello sleepyhead,” she greeted him.

“Mornin’” he replied limply. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Long enough.”

“Time to go,” Juuzou rubbed his eyes.

“Yea,” Reila confirmed sadly. None of them was willing to leave the bed.

“I have to  go to the headquarters,” stated Juuzou as he finally started dressing up. Reila just threw a robe onto herself and saw him off to the door.

“Rei-chan, say that you haven’t changed your mind and you’ll leave the city today…” he demanded her confirmation before going out.

“Yea, I’m starting packing right after you’ll leave,” she lied and embraced him tightly. He did the same. “Take care Juuzou,” she kissed him goodbye.

“You too. We’ll meet when it’ll be finally over, won’t we?” he asked hopelessly.

“Of course,” she promised as she closed the door behind hm. After that she turned around, leaned her back on the door and sighed deeply. She lowered herself onto the floor and cried loudly.

 

* * *

 

When she got herself together, she didn’t start packing as she had promised to Juuzou, but instead of that she dressed up and rushed to Anteiku to warn everybody.

“Manager!” she exclaimed as she entered the café.

“Ah, Rei-chan, what’s happening? You have free day today,” said Yoshimura, calm as always.

“Yes, but I have to tell you something. Can we go upstairs?”

“Of course,” he agreed. “Koma-kun, could you take care over the café for a moment?”

“Devil Ape accepts the challenge!” Koma exclaimed cheerfully and winked.

“So what’s going on? You seem to be rather shaken,” Yoshimura noted when they found themselves upstairs.

“Yes, I found out that CCG plans to raid our café tomorrow. Their target is to take down the Owl. We need to do something!”

“Ah, I knew that sooner or later it will end up like this,” said the manager stoically.

“Huh? How is that? Manager, are you the ghoul that they are searching for?”

“CCG and I have a long history together,” Yoshimura explained. “Nah, there’s no time to tell about it. Kaneki-kun knows all the truth. I think he’ll be happy to tell you about that.”

“But manager!”

“Rei-chan please! Now the most important thing is to make everyone safe! Go to Yomo-kun and inform him. You both take care of Touka and Nishki. Kaya, Koma and I will take care of closing and protecting Anteiku. “

“But I want to help here. I want to, I have to fight!”

“No, you own me nothing. There are people who still need you…” Yoshimura fell silent for a while. It looked like he was reminding something. “What are you waiting for Rei-chan? I’m counting on you. And thank you for our cooperation.”

On Reila’s cheek ran a single tear. “Thank you manager,” she said and went out of a room, slamming the door and creating her own plan in her mind.

 

* * *

 

 

At Yomo’s place she met a person that she wanted to see the least: “Kaneki!” she exclaimed in a surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to Yomo, what about you?” Kaneki friendly inquired.       

“Me too, so you’d better leave, it’s one-to-one conversation,” Reila said with an unpleasant voice, crossing her arms.

“Rei-chan don’t be so picky. What do you want to say to me? We have kind of difficult situation here, CCG plans a large scale operation in 20th ward as Kaneki said,” Yomo explained.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say! How do you know that?” Reila looked at Kaneki suspiciously.

“I’ve overheard the conversation between two investigators in a café,” Kaneki clarified. “So I came to inform Yomo as soon as I could. Now we need to inform the rest.”

“I’ve already notified the manager. He asked me to tell you. We need to take care of Touka and Nishio.”

“Oh, I would do this anyway,” Yomo nodded.

“Ok, then I’ll get going,” decided Reila. “Bye,” she said as she was leaving.

“Rei-chan wait for me!” Kaneki chased her when she was already outside.

“Ugh, what do you want? Do you care about Anteiku so much now Kaneki-kun?” she inquired as they were walking.

“I’ve never stopped doing that,” he answered.

“Hm, then I have a proposition to you, I hate asking you to do this, but will you support me in defensing Anteiku? Manager won’t make it only with Kaya and Koma and he refuses any other help…”

“No problem,” Kaneki agreed at instant.

“Also I wanted to make sure that Juuzou will be alright…”

“Huh, you really grew fond on him, didn’t you?”

“Shut up! I haven’t asked you for any unnecessary comments, but for your help,” Reila frowned her eyebrows.

“And I already agreed.”

They walked for a while in silence until Kaneki spoke again: “You know, I still believe that common existence of ghouls and humans is possible. And Yoshimura-san is an example of that. However, not very fortunate but still…”

“Is that so?”

“Yea, he fell in love with a human. They even had a child. It’s a famous one-eyed ghoul. This child is like us but it was born in a natural way.”

“Huh, that’s interesting…”

“Isn’t it? You know, I really missed our conversations.”

“It was not me who left.”

“You know why I did this…”

“Yea, I know but it doesn’t mean I’m ok with that… anyway let’s focus on tomorrow…”

After setting the details of the next day’s plan, they split up. When Reila was completely alone, she took out her cell phone and dialed a number. After hearing familiar boy’s voice she said: “Hide, I need your help…”

 

* * *

 

“Yoshimura-san, I’ve cleaned whole shop,” informed Koma.

“And I disposed of all documents,” added Kaya.

“Thank you,” said the manager pouring hot coffee to the three cups. His workers sat down on a couch.

“Ah, a coffee with our manager, this is what I always dreamed of,” said Koma and Yoshimura smiled mysteriously. He imagined faces of all ghouls who he had helped to. Or at least, he TRIED to help.

“Good,” an old man said. “I just regret that in the end my dream never came true…” he added.

Soon after they finished drinking their coffee and changed their clothes, a command to start an operation was ordered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :) Feedback is always welcomed!
> 
> For more Tokyo Ghoul stuff check out this tumblr: @helter-skelter-re


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, I'm back! To everyone who waited for a new chapter (if there are any people like that): thank you very much for your patience! I can see that I got a lot of kudos since the last update, thank you very much for them too, it's a sign that I'm not writing just for myslef.

“Kaneki-kun.”

“Rei-chan,” Kaneki turned around. He was standing at the edge of a skyscraper’s rooftop, all dressed in black, the mask in his hand. Reila wore dark grey cloak, black skinny jeans and combat boots. She was unmasked as well.

“Are you scared?” she asked, not approaching him due to her fear of heights.

“I try not to think about it,” he answered, sitting down.

“Are you guys really planning to do this?” they heard a male’s voice behind them. They turned around and saw Nishki.

“Ah, Nishio-senpai!” Kaneki greeted him.

“What are you doing here?” inquired surprised Reila.

“Yomo contacted me. Don’t you worry, I don’t plan to go on this suicide mission with you,” Nishki sat next to Kaneki. Reila still stood a few meters behind them.

“This mission… is not a suicide!” Reila opposed.

“Haha, it’s going to be bad for Anteiku and you know it. Suddenly everything comes to the end. Actually, I’ll miss this place…” Nishki sighed.

“What are you planning to do then?” asked Kaneki.

“I’ll run away from here of course.”

“I’m sorry Nishio-senpai, if I hadn’t brought you into this…” Kaneki apologized.

“Nah, I’m glad that I’ve worked with you. You don’t have to this, you know? Both of you have people who are waiting for you.”

“Yea, and we’re doing this for them,” said Reila.

“You’re really mad,” Nishki smiled faintly. Kaneki and Reila responded with the tiny smiles too.

“Rei-chan, it’s time to go,” Kaneki finally stated.

“Uhm,” Reila nodded.

“I won’t let you go!” Tsukiyama shouted, appearing out of nowhere. “I won’t let you go on a waste, my dear Kaneki Ken!” he screamed dramatically. “Don’t you see how outnumbered they are? Even with my connection, the connections of Tsukiyama family, I won’t be able to protect you…”

“Ugh, are you done yet? Why don’t you just join us then?” Reila interrupted him.

“I, I just… you don’t understand it Rei-chan! Kaneki must die here!” Tsukiyama activated his kagune.

“You’re right, I don’t understand,” she also activated her bikaku, pierced Tsukiyama’s torso with it and hit his body on the ground.

“Rei-chan you didn’t have to…” Kaneki said. Reila just shrugged her shoulders in response.

Tsukiyama just lied down there, crying. “Can you please do not go there?”

“I’m sorry, thank you for caring for me Tsukiyama-san. I’d never forgive myself not trying to save my friends. Now, let’s go then Rei-chan.”

She nodded. “Bye Nishki. Bye Tsukiyama. I’m sorry that I’ve stabbed you,” she added.

“Goodbye Nishio-senpai. Maybe we’ll meet someday,” said Kaneki.

“Huh, I don’t think so. Never say never though. Goodbye and good luck.”

Tsukiyama didn’t move or say anything, lost into his sorrow. Kaneki and Reila walked away and then split up.

 

* * *

 

When Reila arrived, it was almost after the fight. Beaten Irimi lied on the ground, one of the investigators stood above her, his quinque pointed in her chest. The rest of the investigators, tired after the fight, gathered around and were ready to leave.

“Is it fair, huh? So many people versus one?” inquired Reila, coming out of the shadow with her bikaku activated. All Doves froze when they saw a new ghoul, appearing out of nowhere. “Let’s challenge then,” she proposed.

“Who are you?” asked the investigator who stood the closest to Irimi. In response he was attacked by Reila with her kagune tail. The impact of the attack was so huge that investigator landed a long distance from the leader of Black Dobers. Reila approached her.

“How are you Irimi-san?” she inquired.

“Not so bad, thanks. What are you doing here?”

“Saving your life you stupid,” Reila smirked, but behind the mask it couldn’t be seen.

“You are stupid that you came here…”

“Ok, let’s save comments for later, we have to get out from here as quickly as possible… do you have any advice?”

Irimi smiled faintly. “The small one is pretty fast but lacks power, the rest is pretty average. The one with small eyes is more powerful. The most dangerous one is the most average-looking guy so watch him. The one who you hit seems to be their boss and it seems you hurt him but you should be careful.

“Ok, thank you,” Reila said and activated her second kagune. The investigators hadn’t any chances with her. She jumped around them fast, attacking either with the tail, or with the projectiles from her ukaku. The most powerful investigator finally ordered his less advanced colleagues to step down and fought on his own. Reila had to admit that he was a tough cookie, but all in all his wounds were too serious to continue him fighting. Reila took a chance and ran away with Irimi, helping her to walk. She took her to the hideout which she had prepared with Kaneki before.

Kaneki was already there with Koma. Irimi winded her eyes seeing both of them: “You’re in this too, Kaneki-kun?”

“Yup,” admitted Kaneki happily.

“You really lost your minds,” stated Irimi, taking a seat on the ground, nearby Koma.

“I expected words like: ‘thank you for rescuing me, I would be dead without you’ not accusing us for being mad men,” mocked Reila.

“Ok, fine. Thanks for helping us. Hello, Devil Ape,” Irimi greeted Koma. His wounds were more serious so he only grunted in response. “It seems that you and black dobers are not needed anymore, we’re too old to fight and we were bumped by the new generation,” she joked, making Koma smile. “Ok, since you’ve ruined our plan, what’s yours?”

“You stay here in our hideout until it’s safe and we go where Yoshimura-san is,” explained Kaneki.

“Mhm,” grunted Irimi.

“Let’s go then!” Kaneki said to Reila as he moved, but she stood still.

“I’m sorry Kaneki but you’re not going,” she said firmly as she pierced him with her bikaku.

“What are you doing Rei?!” Irimi shouted at her.

“I’m making sure that everyone is safe!” she shouted back, shooting spikes from her wings at him. They covered all his back, Kaneki stood paralyzed until he fell, his face to the ground. Reila approached him, turned him around on his back with her foot and repeated her attack, this time spikes covered all his chest. Kaneki’s body arched as he screamed terribly.

“Rei stopped this right now!” Irimi exclaimed, standing up with a difficulty and approaching her. But Reila hit her with bikaku and Irimi found herself on the ground immediately. Then, she broke both Kaneki’s legs and in the end she pierced his left eye with her bikaku. After that, she squatted right beside him, leaning towards him, a faint smile on her face: “I’m so sorry Kaneki-kun, I had to this so that you wouldn’t come with me. You’ve been through too much, and you deserved to be happy. You protected all your friends all the time and it’s time someone protected you. So live and be happy after all of this, dammit!” she whispered and kissed him on his forehead. Then she stood up and saw a familiar silhouette. “Ah, perfect timing Hide-kun!”

Hide looked around at all this mess, confused. “Yeah, it was not easy to break away from CCG unseen and arrive here but I made it.”

Reila passed him, placing her hand on Hide’s shoulder: “Good, take care of them, they all wounded but they will regenerate in some time. I’ll go to place where Yoshimura-san is.”

“Alright!” Hide nodded briskly and Reila was gone.

 

* * *

 

 

_Reila opened an envelope which Juuzou had given her. She slowly took out the paper from it and spread it. There were only two words written on it with Juuzou’s messy handwriting: “I KNOW.”_

_Know about what? That was too obvious to ask. He knew who she was. Then why he didn’t bother to kill her, or at least arrest her and send to Cochlea? She couldn’t leave this like that. She tore the pieces of paper and threw them into a metal trash can. Then she burnt them all._

 

* * *

 

Reila got through on a rooftop where took place the battle between the most powerful ghoul and CCG investigators. Many investigators who she encountered on her way tried to stop her, but she was too fast and too strong for them. Finally, someone informed the HQ about the upcoming danger via radio.

When she arrived on the rooftop, she found there resigned investigators standing still while Juuzou was the only one who still tried to hurt the Owl somehow. Reila’s appearance created a stir amongst the group of the helpless Doves.

“A ghoul!”  they whispered each to another.

“Is it the one that was mentioned about on the radio a moment ago?”

“Probably…”

“Should we fight her?”

“No!” Reila shrieked as loud as she could, tearing her mask off. “I don’t want to hurt anyone! Never again! We can all leave in peace if we want to…” she paused as she saw what happened to Juuzou. Hearing her voice, he lost all concentration and now he was falling on the ground, with his right leg cut off by the Owl.

“Juuzou!” she quickly jumped over him. “Are you ok?”

All investigators were extremely confused and didn’t know what to do.

“Ah Rei-chan, I told you to leave… besides that I’m fine…”

“How can you be fine, you, your leg… I have to stop the bleeding!” she tore a piece of fabric from her cloak. “You! Call for a medical help, immediately!” she yelled at Shinohara. After her determined request investigators started to take some actions. Shinohara called for help and the rest started attacking the wounded Owl. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” she cried as she was stopping the bleeding from Juuzou’s leg.

“What are you talking about, it’s not your fault. I told you I’m fine it doesn’t even hurt… why are you even here? I told you to leave!”

“I couldn’t leave you and the other ones just like that. And I read your testament, I’m so sorry for that…”

“Why have you done that, I demanded you not to do that!”

“Yea, I know and I’m so sorry for breaking both of these promises. But coming here, I didn’t know if I make it out alive, I just needed to know what you wrote. And still I don’t understand why you didn’t told anything to the authorities when you knew about me…”

“I haven’t been in 100% sure, but now I am.”

“You’re a poor liar Juuzou.”

“Same as you…”

“We have a lot in common then. Actually we’re the same. We’re the kids with no choice. Made into monsters who we never wanted to become.”

“That’s right,” Juuzou cried.

“Paramedics is here,” informed Shinohara.

“Good,” stated Reila. “Give me that!” she strongly took away a first-aid bag from a paramedic. “I’ll do it!” she exclaimed as she started to dress Juuzou’s stump professionally. When she finished, she joined to the fighting investigators.

“I’m sorry manager,” she whispered as she began to cut his kakuja with her kagune mercilessly. Soon, the Owl was considered to be defeated and from all investigators’ throats was heard a scream of triumph. But it was too early to celebrate. Out of nowhere on the rooftop landed a new ghoul, very similar to the Owl. She easily dodged all investigators’ attacks and threw them around the rooftop. Reila was the only one who managed to avoid her attacks.

“Oh dear, you have to be a famous One-Eye huh?” Reila asked. In response, the ghoul shrieked and tried to hit her with one blade of her kagune.

“How scary! But guess what, I’m the one-eye too!” she laughed jumping over her. Juuzou gasped, sitting on the ground and not being able to move. He was the only one conscious investigator there, the rest of them lied unconsciously, thrown away around the rooftop. Reila tried to cut through One-eyed owl kakuja, but it was too hard. She constantly was loosing her speed, a prolonged fight didn’t play into her hands. She kept fighting though there was no way she could defeat such a powerful ghoul. Despite the fact that she had two kagunes, she was too weak.

“Dammit!” she cursed as One-Eyed Owl hit her and her body rolled around at the edge of the rooftop. The barrier was the only thing that kept her before falling down. That was it. She was too damaged to move. The SSS ranked ghoul heavily put her gigantic feet towards her. The only thing Reila could feel was the rain falling down on her. She looked around, Shinohara lied down nearby her, she couldn’t tell if he was alive or not. _If he was dead, Juuzou would be sad… he wouldn’t admit it but I know… the same when I’ll be dead…,_ she thought. _Right Juuzou?,_ she caught his gaze. The young investigator’s eyes were widened to the maximum, it was the first time she saw a fear in his eyes. Reila closed her eyes as she saw the falling One-Eyed Owl’s blade in her direction. She was convinced that she receives a fatal injury, but she felt only the strong pain in her right leg. The pain was huge but she was still alive. She opened her eyes. The part of her leg under the knee was missing.

“Haha, now you match! Such a lovely couple!” said One-Eyed with a squawky voice. That was enough for Juuzou. He screamed like he never screamed before. He crawled to his Jason quinque when One-Eyed pierced her blade into Reila’s stomach and drilled a whole in it. He had some Scorpion quinque at his hand as well and he threw them at her.

“Huh? You tickle me!” this drew her attention towards him. He slowly stood up, using Jason as a crutch and limped towards her.

“Juuzou, don’t!” Reila rasped. Juuzou attacked and then fell down numerous times until back up investigators arrived. That was the moment Reila lost her consciousness.

 

* * *

 

It was gloomy evening, the rain was still falling down. The rooftop where took place the fight was now empty. At least almost empty. There was one single man under the black umbrella who bended over to lift up Nurse’s mask. No one of the investigators took it, so it stayed there.

“Hmm, so that’s the way you chose Rei-chan. Interesting…” he whispered and smirked. Then he hid the mask in his bag and went to his friend’s bar where he was about to meet with his fellow Clowns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad news: there's only one chapter left. Good news: it's already written, I just have to edit it so you don't have to wait for months to update, I guess I'll post it next week!
> 
> As always thank you for reading, you're the best! ♥


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter ahead, enjoy! (I suggest listening to songs from Tokyo Ghoul openings and endings while reading to get fully emotional)

“Where am I?”Reila slowly opened her eyes and found out that she was in a hospital room. On her left side there was a white-haired boy in a wheelchair who was holding her hand.

“Rei-chan, you finally woke up!” he exclaimed. Reila looked on her right. There was sitting a nicely-looking female blonde who was just smiling at her. Reila didn’t recognize any of these people. To be honest she didn’t even remember what her name was.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know you, who are you?”

“You don’t remember me?” the boy exclaimed, devastated.

“No, I’m sorry. To be honest, I don’t remember anything.”

The blonde on her right immediately started asking her questions: “Do you remember how did you get here?”

“No.”

“Do you remember your name?”

“No,” she answered once again, this time more quietly, realizing in how awful situation she was. The boy burst out in tears.

“Juuzou-kun, please calm down,” the woman approached him, “the doctors should see you,” she turned to Reila. Then she left the room with Juuzou and called the doctors. Meanwhile they were examining her, Akira called the CCG authorities for the further instructions. When she ended her phone call, she spoke with the doctors and then with Juuzou.

“Suzuya listen, CCG decided to put miss Suzuki in a rehabilitation program but it requires some changes. Since she doesn’t remember anything, they decided that it will be the best for her to create a new identity so she couldn’t refer to her… violent past and living as a ghoul. So from on her name is Hana Sakamoto and she is the first human who underwent an operation of becoming an artificial ghoul. It’s an innovational operation to increase capability in fighting with ghouls. Her first fight was so stressful so that she suffers from amnesia now. That’s it.”

“But it’s not true, I won’t lie!” Juuzou strongly opposed.

“You will if you want her alive. Knowing the truth about herself now can be really destructive. You don’t have any other choice…”

“Yea, because I’m a kid without a choice…” Juuzou whispered.

“What did you say?” Akira didn’t hear what he was saying.

“I agree. Can we go to her now?”

“Of course,” Akira smiled and pushed his wheelchair into the room.

Juuzou at instance placed himself next to Reila’s bed and asked: “How are you feeling?”

“Confused…” she replied.

“The doctors say it’s normal for a person in your condition,” Akira explained.

“Mhm,” she nodded, “so who are you people? And what has happened to me?”

“I’m rank 2 ghoul investigator Mado Akira and this is rank 2 ghoul investigator Suzuya Juuzou…”

“Ghoul investigators? What do I have common with you?”

“Your name is Hana Sakamoto. You’re the first person who agreed to undergo a special surgery to install a quinque into your body. CCG was looking for a more efficient way to fight ghouls for a long time and finally our doctors invented this method…”

“I don’t understand…”

“You’re like a live weapon against ghouls, isn’t it great?” Akira asked with an enthusiasm.

“No, it’s not. I’d never done something like that!”

“Oh, Hana-san, you feel confused that’s why you think this way.”

“I don’t understand one more thing: you call me Hana, but when I only woke up, Juuzou-kun called me Rei, why is that?”

This remark made Akira completely ruffled. Luckily for her, Juuzou answered: “Oh that’s because Rei is my nickname for you.”

“Oh,” she gasped, “we used to be close?”

Akira sent him a warning look.

“Yea, we used to be friends,” said Juuzou, still smiling.

“I see…”

“Good! You surely want to rest, and the doctors want to run some more tests, so we’ll leave you for now,” concluded Akira and left the room with Juuzou. When they found themselves on a corridor, he blamed her: “Lies, lies, it’s nothing but lies! She will find out that we’re not telling her the truth, there’s nothing like installing quinque in a human body and becoming an artificial ghoul. And even if there was something like that, she’s not one either…”

“No, there isn’t something like that yet. Thanks to Hana-san our doctors have a material to experiment and they will be able to create something like that.”

“What?! They make the experiments on her after all that she’s been through?” Juuzou voice was cracking, his all body was shaking.

“Don’t worry, she won’t get hurt, actually she won’t know about it.”

“Still I think it’s pretty awful…”

“Juuzou it’s not in your power what CCG authorities plan to do. Just remember what I’ve told you. Here’s your room, I’ll leave you here, I have to go to the HQ. Bye!” Akira waved him goodbye and walked away.

 

* * *

 

Later at night, Juuzou couldn’t fall asleep so he wheeled to Reila (or as he was supposed to name her now – Hana). He stopped in front of her room and looked at her through the window glass. She wasn’t asleep as well and when she realized he was observing her, she waved to him. Juuzou rolled into her room.

“Hey, aren’t you asleep?” she inquired quietly.

“Nah, I can’t sleep.”

“Same here,” she said with a faint smile.

“How do you feel?”

“Achy. They run a lot of tests. And I’m still confused. I try to remember something but I can’t,” her voice trembled.

“Shh,” Juuzou soothed her, grabbing and caressing her hand.

“We were more than friends, didn’t we?” she asked out of the blue. “You just didn’t want to admit it when Akira-san was here…”

Juuzou nodded.

“Huh, at least it turns out that I have good perceptive abilities.”

“You’ve always had,” he admitted, kissing her hand.

“Nice to hear that,” she paused. “Listen, what about we throw a little sleepover here?” she asked. Juuzou just looked at her confused.

“Come here,” she moved to her right and patted the free space next to her on a bed, “you’re small, you’ll fit. It must have be uncomfortable to sit in this wheelchair all the time.”

“No, I’m fine, thanks.” Juuzou opposed, but she looked into his eyes and he couldn’t say no to her, so he slowly transported himself on the bed.

“Now tell me about you. About us.” Reila demanded. So he told. He was fully sincere to his past and not so sincere about their past together, but Reila was both content and touched by his story and after that they both fall asleep somehow, holding hands all the time.

 

* * *

 

“What the both of you do think you are doing?” Reila and Juuzou were woken up the next morning by the raised voice of a nurse. “Suzuya-san, get out of here at instance!” she hurried him. Juuzou was still pretty sleepy and lazily rubbed his eyes.

“He was just accompanying me, don’t yell at us just like that!” Reila got annoyed very quickly.

“Sorry miss, we have rules here, if my superior finds out about it, I can lose my job…” she lowered her voice and stepped back because she saw Reila’s kakugan activating.

“I don’t care about the rules, I don’t care about your stupid job, why I just can’t be happy?” she was thrashing around in the bed. When Juuzou noticed what was going on, he hold her tightly and said in a calming voice: “Please calm down, she’s right, I am supposed to sleep in my own bed…” by his touch and voice Reila started to settle down.

“What’s going on here?” Akira popped into the room.

“Nothing, it’s ok. We’re cool,” stated Juuzou, but the nurse was still panicked.

“She tried to attack me!” she complained to Akira who eyed everyone carefully and tried to review a situation.

“I’m sorry miss, it shouldn’t have happened,” she apologized the nurse. “We will take steps to avoid similar situations in the future.”

“I think so,” the nurse said with a contempt and left the room.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Akira asked.

“We just… were bored at night,” explained Juuzou.

“Ugh, I should really ask about the pay rise for dealing with the two of you,” sighed Akira. “Nevertheless, I have good news, Juuzou you will get an advanced prosthesis and Hana doesn’t even need one, because her leg is regenerating well itself.”

“What, I lost my leg?” Reila lifted up the sheet. Her right leg was whole but a calf and foot were slightly different tone.

“Yes, you’ve lost it in your first fight with a powerful ghoul, the same as Juuzou. Being a ghoul you developed a high regenerating skills, so it grew up when you were lying in a coma.”

Reila’s eyed widned.

“Anyway, you both will be able to walk soon. Juuzou-kun, do you want to visit to Shinohara-san?” Akira changed the subject.

“How is he?” Juuzou instead of replying, quietly asked.

“His condition is pretty difficult, it hasn’t changed much.”

“Then what’s the point going there?”

“I can go with you!” Reila suddenly said. “Can I?” she turned the question to Akira. She didn’t seem pleased but she finally said:

“I guess you can, if this only helps Juuzou.”

“Then let’s go!” she ordered. Soon after Reila got a wheelchair as well, she and Juuzou both rolled to the room when Shinohara was lying unconscious.

“You should go in,” suggested Reila when they stopped in front of the Shinohara’s room and looked at him through the glass.

“No…” Juuzou said nervously.

“Hey, Juuzou, I’ll be right here,” Reila took and squeezed his hand. Juuzou nodded and wheeled into the room while Reila stayed on the corridor. He sat there and looked at his partner for a long time when finally, he approached to his bed, leaned towards him, whispered some words which Reila couldn’t hear and kissed him on a forehead. After that he joined Reila on the corridor. Saying nothing he hid his face on her shoulder, wiping tears in her hospital dress. She just softly caressed his hair, pretending she didn’t hear him crying.

 

* * *

 

_Dear Mrs and Mr Suzuki,_

_I am truly sorry to inform you about the death of your daughter, Reila Suzuki._

_Miss Suzuki was a victim of a ghoul attack in 20 th ward on July 31st. Unfortunately, we cannot transfer you the body because only a few body parts survived the attack. Based on them we were able to identify your relative. Later on they were cremated. We will send them to you shortly, together with her personal belongings. _

_Once again I am truly sorry for your loss,_

_Yoshitoki Washhu_

_Bureau Director of CCG's Main Office_

Mrs Suzuki eyes immediately filled up with tears as she passed the letter to her husband. After quick reading it, he also burst in tears, embracing his wife.

That was the day when Reila Suzuki was erased from the official records and basically stopped to exist.

 

* * *

 

A few months later, Hana became a Rank 3 investigator. With Akira Mado as her mentor, she achieved Rank 1 soon. CCG’s scientists developed the method of installing quinque in a human body with a controlled way of realizing its power. The volunteers underwent special operations to become a human weapon against the ghouls. They formed a squad called Quinx Squad, from the name they were given. Hana became their superior and mentor. Juuzou was moved by the authorities to the 13th ward, while Hana stayed in the central, but despite that they tried to maintain their relationship. Hana began to be truly content with her life.

One day, when she was walking down the street, she was stopped  by a young man who spoke to her: “Oh, hello, long time no see, how are you doing?”

But she couldn’t remember that man at all so she just blinked nervously and replied: “I’m sorry, I don’t know you…”

“Oi Hide!” the other young man who was accompanying him, poked him. “You shouldn’t talk to the strangers! I’m so sorry, you remind one of our friends, Hide must have mistaken you for her.” The other man apologized for his friend. “You just look like her, we’re so sorry,” he kept apologizing.

“Yea, I’m sorry, my mistake,” the first man admitted.

“Ok, no problem,” she smiled but she still felt uneasy. “I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry,” she excused herself and quickly walked away.

“What’s going on?” a purple haired young woman joined to the men.

“That dumbass, tried to speak with Rei-chan. Don’t you know that she lost her memory and leads a complete different life now?”

“Yea, I know, but I thought that when I speak to her, maybe she’ll remember something…” Hide tried to explain himself.

“It’s not so easy,” Kaneki sighed and put his arm around Touka. “By the way, hello darlin’” he kissed her softly on her cheek.

“Bleh, I still don’t understand how you have chosen him over me Touka-chan,” Hide complained but they all knew that he was just joking.

“Um, it just happened,” she giggled and added, “luckily, she will have a place where she can come back soon. Even unaware that it’s her place.”

“Ah, that’s right, how are the preparations?” Hide inquired.

“Yomo-san is redecorating a shop, he should finish soon,” informed him Touka.

“Nishki, Tsukiyama and Hinami are shopping for the accessories,” added Kaneki.

“That’s good, I miss Anteiku,” stated Hide.

“Well, it won’t be Anteiku. It was the only one place like this. And it doesn’t exist anymore,” said Kaneki.

“Yea, but it will be like Anteiku version 2.0 right? By the way how do you want to name it?”

“I thought of :re,” Touka replied.

“Huh? I don’t get it.”

“It’s just the two fist letters of her name, you silly,” Touka clarified.

“Oh I see.”

“And if Rei-chan remembers us, we will be there,” concluded Kaneki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is over... Writing this story took me over a year so I feel kinda sad but also proud of myslef that I managed to finish it. I hope at least a few people truely enjoyed this story as much as I did. Thank you very much for all your kudos, comments and above all being patient with my not so regular updates. You all rock!  
> I'm wondering about a sequel set in :re world, let me know if you are interested in it.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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